Amid back-and-forth discussion at Riverside trustees’ most recent meeting, a majority of the board directed to strike plans for a community gymnasium from the village’s project to build a new and improved public safety space next to village hall.
At their Nov. 7 meeting, trustees heard an update from Managing Principal Andy Dogan of Williams Architects before directing him and village staff to pursue a compressed plan for the new building that will be more likely to fall within Riverside’s $20 million budget for the project.
Dogan told trustees he had two potential options to show them: one building upon the design they had previously agreed to that included a community gym and another “that attempts to balance the need for community space” while meeting the village’s budget. Even beyond Riverside’s financial constraint, Dogan said the inclusion of the gym, which would be the final piece constructed, could cause the space to be suboptimal for public safety.
“To be able to plan for the eventuality of a gym on this site, we are really compressing the rest of the program, so to speak, for public safety [and] the spaces they need into a smaller area. When we do that, the only way we can maintain the quantity of space that is needed, or is recommended, is to start splitting that space over several floors, so that’s less ideal from a functional standpoint, from a time-of-service and a quality-of-service standpoint, for police and fire,” Dogan said. “We want to point that out, that we’re working with a finite site, and to be able to say, ‘Yes,’ to a potential gym simply compresses the rest of the plan.”
The new option, which the board preferred overall, would have only two floors above the underground parking compared to the three floors required with the gym. Under that plan, most fire department spaces, including the fire truck bay, would coexist on the first floor, with only firefighters’ sleeping quarters on the second floor. The police department would be spread between shared spaces on the first floor and dedicated rooms on the second floor. The second floor would also contain community spaces, including a meeting room, fitness room and kitchen for cooking programming.
That new option would have the same amount of space for public safety personnel as the previous choice at 26,030 gross square feet, Dogan said, though with only 4,500 gross square feet of community space compared to 10,750 gross square feet. An even smaller version of the new option would have just 22,000 square feet for public safety and 1,950 square feet for community spaces.
The smaller version is the only one that could conceivably cost less than Riverside’s $20 million budget, Dogan said. Williams estimated it would cost between about $20 million and $21.8 million in total. The new option, without reduced capacity, would cost between $25.8 and $28.6 million, while the version of the building with a gym could cost up to $50.7 million when all is said and done.
After hearing Dogan’s presentation, some members of the board expressed concern about the gym’s inclusion affecting public safety spaces.
“When we were discussing whether to retrofit the building or start anew, my opinion was start anew. Why have staff in a subpar part of the building and other staff using brand new facilities? We should be all brand new,” said Trustee Jill Mateo. “If there is a more logical and better layout for public safety departments, then I’m in favor of that.”
Trustee Cristin Evans also spoke out against the gym, as similar spaces already exist in Riverside.
“I think that we should put more resources into the RFD and RPD facilities, and if that means losing our gym, I think that’s OK,” she said. “It’s not like we don’t have gyms that are accessible around town. All the schools, all of the kids use the gyms, both in school and after school.”
Trustee Elizabeth Kos, who chaired Riverside’s parks and recreation board from 2018-2023, said she thought the village board ought to prioritize the gym.
“We have already, at this point, been faced with having to cut popular programs within parks and recreation because we don’t have gym space. The public schools are using their gyms all the time,” she said. “We do not have adequate space for recreation, indoor recreation, in this town.”
She added that community members may not be supportive of the project if the board were to cut the gym and focus solely on public safety spaces.
Trustee Megan Claucherty agreed the board should consider residents when picking a design.
“In these options, I don’t see enough for the community, so, frankly, at the price tag we’re talking about, I don’t think we have community support. I don’t think a small community room and a community kitchen cuts it,” she said. “I’d be happy to discuss sacrificing some of the other space allocations that were made for the community, to trade those for the gym space. I think the gym space is a priority.”
Ultimately, trustees Alex Gallegos and Aberdeen Marsh-Ozga weighed in against the gym, meaning the board’s majority consensus was to proceed without it.
