Calabasas center receives bid

After a series of frustrating delays, the Calabasas City Council approved a $31-million bid for the town's new civic center.

"This is the result of 10 years' worth of work and numerous individuals, both in official capacity and in staff capacity and in support capacity throughout, not only in the community, but in the business community as well," Mayor Dennis Washburn said.

Bernards Bros. Inc. came in with the winning bid.

The civic center will be built on a 7.7-acre site on Park Sorrento behind The Commons. It comprises a two-story, 27,700-square-foot city hall, a 25,700-square-foot public library, a 3,000-square-foot assembly hall, an outdoor amphitheater and a public plaza.

"I'm hoping we can move very quickly at this point to get this underway and celebrate the development of our next 50 years' worth of success in Calabasas," Washburn said.

In August 2003, plans were drawn up for the center, and in January 2005, preliminary designs were approved. The following month, the city received $800,000, the first installment of an $8.2-million grant from the state Office of Library Construction. Later last year the city purchased the property, and in May of this year, the project went out for bid.

When the low bid came in at nearly $46 million, about $11 million more than the city had budgeted, the bid was rejected and the council instructed staff to reduce the size of the project. The underground parking structure was eliminated and the project went up for rebid last month.

Gary Lysik, the city's chief financial officer, said that after other costs were added, including contingencies and possible change orders, the total cost was upped to $41.4 million.

The city has exisiting funds in hand but still must borrow $35 million to pay for the project, City Manager Tony Coroalles said. The cost to service the debt is $1.8 million per year until 2016, when the payment goes up to $2.2 million per year until year 35.

"There should not be any cutback in any program the city is currently doing because of this," Coroalles said. "And we will be able to maintain the general fund at a fairly healthy level, which then allows us to keep our credit rating and allows us to borrow in the future if we need to borrow.

"We won't be coming forward, for awhile, with any more long-term expenses that the city has," Coroalles said, "and I'll be very careful to make sure our budget remains stable as we go forward."

Council members said they were pleased with the report.

"I enthusiastically move that we accept this bid," said Mary Sue Maurer.

City staff said workers expect to break ground on the civic center sometime in December.

"Before you know it, it will be done," Councilmember Jonathon Wolfson said.