The cost estimate for the Rockefeller Avenue parking lot for Riverside-Brookfield High School has increased by $45,000. Last week Brookfield Village Manager Riccardo Ginex informed RB Superintendent/Principal Jack Baldermann that the cost of building a cul-de-sac, rerouting Hollywood Avenue and building a landscaped island in the middle of Rockefeller Avenue has increased the estimated cost of the project to $339,000.
“This is a ballpark figure,” said Ginex. “It could come in much less.”
But it could also cost more, Ginex said, if the village’s contractor incurs increased labor and material costs as a consequence of the changes in the plan.
The cost had been estimated at $295,000, but Ginex told Baldermann that the increase is the result of modifications of the original design. The plan now calls for a 90-degree bend on Hollywood, an access drive to Brookfield Zoo from north Hollywood, and a landscaped island in the middle of Rockefeller Avenue. The Village of Brookfield will pay for the work and then be reimbursed in full by RB.
In January of 2006, when the plan for adding parking to Rockefeller Avenue was first proposed, the cost estimate was $230,000.
But despite the increased cost, the addition of up to 108 parking spaces is well worth the cost, Baldermann said.
“The value we’re getting from the project is well worth the money,” Baldermann said at last week’s District 208 school board meeting.
Baldermann said the cost of the project is a little higher than original estimates, but said that because an originally proposed parking deck will not be built, RB can afford the increased cost.
The additional parking is badly needed because RB will lose its faculty parking lot in the northeast section of the school property, where a field house is scheduled to be built as part of RB’s nearly $64 million renovation and expansion project.
“Without this we can’t move forward,” said District 208 school board member Bill McCloskey.
Delivery trucks will be able to access a new zoo delivery entrance on Hollywood by driving over a depressed curb in the center of cul-de-sac, but there will be no south or westbound access to Hollywood Avenue or Rockefeller Avenue.
The Brookfield village board voted 6-0 on June 11 to approve the cost of building the parking spots on Rockefeller from Golf Road to Hollywood Avenue.
Work will begin as soon as District 208 signs a promissory note to the village of Brookfield. Ginex said that he believes the project can be completed by the time RB resumes classes in August. District 208 and Brookfield are expected to sign a formal agreement this week, according to Riverside-Brookfield Township High School District 208 school board President Larry Herbst.
Parking fees increased
In other action at the school board meeting on June 19, the board voted unanimously to raise the cost of a student parking pass from $60 to $85 a year. The increase will help cover the costs of renting the current student parking lot at the northwest corner of the campus.
The school rents the lot from the Cook County Forest Preserve District, which owns the land, for $10,000 a year. The current student lot has 170 parking spaces, but some are used by teachers. More of that lot will be used by teachers once construction begins this fall in the area of the current faculty lot.
