Robinson Park Project Moves Forward

Following Saturday’s community meeting regarding the planned renovation at Robinson Park, Pasadena Now sat down with city engineer Steve Wright and project manager Dale Torstenbo to discuss the project’s future steps.

“There’s a master plan that included renovations of the community center that’s been on the books for quite some time,” said Wright, briefly detailing the project’s history. “After we finished the first phase of the project, the field renovation, the community immediately started to ask about redoing the community center.”

“The master plan was adopted in 2002,” he continued. “Then there was an opportunity to apply for a block grant loan that would position us to move forward with the renovation of the community center.”

Saturday’s meeting featured discussions of the information gathered thus far by the architect as well as preliminary discussions, along with an opportunity for the public to comment on the design. The project architect has gathered information from the city regarding the center’s current and future programming as well as current and future needs regarding the physical layout of the building.

According to the project’s published preliminary schedule, the project will be in the design and permitting portion of the job through early 2016. During this time period, the design of the improvement and its subsequent approval by various city commissions and the building department will be completed.

With necessary approvals, construction would begin in the summer of 2016, said Torstenbo.

“The one thing that’s incorporated in the plan,” said Wright, cautioning about the speed of the project “is a lot of review and environmental elements that need to be sorted out. So when you look at the reality of the whole entitlement process, that’s just the way a project develops through the system, it is what it is, we can’t change that on this project.”

Wright explained further, saying, “We can get through the design commission quickly and if the design hasn’t been properly vetted and we didn’t dot all our i’s and cross all our t’s, they can tell us to go back and do this, this and this, and though we got there a little faster than we anticipated, we’d have to go back two and three times.

Everything comes down to the schedule, Wright emphasized.

“We haven’t really vetted the schedule yet. We will challenge the contractors to do better when it comes to the construction schedule, but there’s a lot of things that have to happen before we even break ground.”

Both Wright and Torstenbo are optimistic and excited for the project, however.

“I would say it’s a very exciting time for the community,” Wright added. “The city is looking to invest $6 million in improvements to the Robinson Park Community Center. We’d love to engage the community and get them out and actively participate in the services that the center provides to understand the decision-making process, and be fully engaged throughout the process and educated about what the center will become over the next several years.”

More information regarding the Robinson Park project is available at http://tinyurl.com/kubrtn6.