City Council approves additional funding for community pool project
Published December 3, 2024
The Piedmont City Council approved an additional $2.8 million in funding to complete the new community pool at their December 2nd meeting, primarily from the City’s Facilities Capital Fund. This action brings the total project cost to $34.9 million, an increase from the original project budget of $28.9 million.
The project budget encompasses all costs related to development of the new pool, including construction, design, engineering, and site improvements surrounding the facility. Since construction started in early 2023, the project has incurred significant new costs due to:
- project delays related to weather, utilities, and the discovery of two buried fuel tanks on the construction site
- additional costs associated with the complexity of pool electrification
- soil disposal, due to the presence of naturally occurring arsenic in the soil composition
Additional costs have also come from expanding the project scope to include already-planned projects adjacent to the pool site, including waterproofing of the Recreation Department building and the full-width repaving of Magnolia Avenue. By wrapping this work into the pool construction contract, the City is able to realize economies of scale and accomplish long-term cost savings.
“Our priority is to finish this project and get our community in the water,” said City Administrator Rosanna Bayon Moore. “We are bringing all possible resources to bear to complete construction and open the pool as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
Piedmont’s new community pool is primarily funded by Measure UU, a $19.5 million construction bond approved by voters in November 2020. Bond proceeds and interest from Measure UU have provided $25.2 million for the pool project.
To fund the remainder of the project, the City brought together a total of 9 funding sources, including community donations from a Piedmont Recreational Facilities Organization (PRFO) fundraising campaign and the Piedmont Beautification Foundation, a long-term no-interest loan from AVA Community Energy, and State grant funds that support clean energy projects.
The City is pursuing additional funding sources, including Inflation Reduction Act credits currently estimated at $180,000 and a $300,000 reimbursement for costs associated with removing the buried fuel tanks and remediating contaminated soil through the State of California’s Removing or Upgrading Underground Storage Tanks (RUST) Program.
The project team currently estimates construction completion in late Spring 2025.