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primarily the soccer and lacrosse leagues, have assigned this field area as one of its primary <br />areas for practices. He noted that the Donlon athletic fields are in disrepair and a hazard for <br />smaller children to use. The community and the neighborhood will benefit from this joint <br />partnership as will Donlon Elementary School. This joint project mirrors what is already in place <br />with the School District for the gymnasiums whereby the City would be financially contributing to <br />an improvement that benefits both the School District and the City. <br />Mr. Sullivan asked if $1,000,000 would be sufficient to renovate the athletic fields? <br />Mr. Wolfe said the School District is in the process of securing the same consultant that <br />the City has utilized, RRM Design Group, to prepare the construction documents. In preliminary <br />discussions with representatives from RRM Design and the School District, it is believed <br />$1,000,000 is sufficient to renovate the athletic fields. If the cost of the improvements were to <br />come in under $1,000,000, both the Ciry and the School District would each pay apro-rata <br />share of those costs, not to exceed $500,000. <br />Mr. Sullivan asked if backstops were going to be added to the athletic fields as part of <br />the renovation project. <br />Mr. Wolfe said the intent is to turf the Donlon athletic fields similar to what the School <br />District would do for any of its school sites. Backstops will be added and are needed for the <br />School's physical education and recess needs which will provide space for some of the <br />organized sports teams, particularly baseball and softball. He said the fields would not be formal <br />and will only be used for practices. <br />Mr. Thorne reminded Council that the sports organizations are concerned about lighted <br />sports fields. Keeping that in mind, Council needs to be cognizant that it does not take away <br />funding for lighted sports fields. <br />Should Council support this project, Mr. Wolfe noted that the required funding would not <br />have an impact on any of the proposed lighted sports fields. <br />Ms. McGovern informed Council that the Donlon athletic fields were not being used by <br />the School because the acreage is larger than the elementary school needed; however, the City <br />heavily uses the athletic fields. Her idea was to take a field that has been complained about by <br />the community that will be utilized and reduce the problems associated with these fields. If <br />Council supported the project, she requested that Council see the final plans before it goes out <br />to bid. She expressed her concern with the transferring of funding for this project from the Civic <br />Center Site Improvement Reserve and questioned how much funding remained in this reserve. <br />Mr. Fialho said $2.5 million dollars was available in the Civic Center Site Improvement <br />Reserve after the $500,000 is removed to fund the renovation of the Donlon Elementary School <br />athletic fields. He pointed out that there are other reserves that are assigned in the Capital <br />Improvement Plan; however, the Civic Center Site Improvement Project is not nailed down as <br />opposed to other CIP projects. From staff's perspective, the Civic Center Site Improvement <br />project is a lesser priority because it started out as a City Hall Reserve. He recommended that <br />Council direct staff to transfer $500,000 from the Civic Center Site Improvement Reserve to <br />fund the renovation of the athletic fields and not remove funding from any other projects. <br />Pleasanton City Council 11 09/06/05 <br />Minutes <br />