The Ridgefield City Council on Aug. 27 voted 6-1 to approve a development agreement with Blue Rock Ventures that would establish the financial, construction, ownership and operating framework for the planned Ridgefield Community and Recreation Center.
The agreement with BRV Ridgefield Holdings LLC outlines a public-private partnership for a roughly 43,000-square-foot, two-story facility at 5001 N. Pioneer Canyon Drive. The project would divide the building into a publicly owned Community Center and a privately owned Recreation Center, with the two portions separated by a firewall but designed to operate as a single facility.
The agreement anticipates $15 million in city funding for the Community Center, with the city planning to use limited tax general obligation bonds. BRV, meanwhile, anticipates contributing approximately $32 million toward the Recreation Center. BRV would have to provide written confirmation and a financial guarantee acceptable to the city showing that its funding is available.
The Recreation Center is planned to occupy about 31,000 square feet and include a gymnasium with an elevated track, lap and recreation pools, locker rooms, a fitness center, child care area, studios and administrative space.
The approximately 12,000-square-foot Community Center would include multipurpose spaces, classrooms, a teen center, commercial kitchen and other community spaces. Parking, landscaping, trails and outdoor areas would be part of the project as well.
Under the proposed agreement, the city would serve as the project's construction entity through Tapani Construction, while BRV would pay the construction costs associated with the privately owned Recreation Center. The city would pay for the Community Center, Ridgefield city attorney Janean Parker explained in a presentation.
The agreement also addresses the Recreation Center's future public use.
As part of the consideration for the city's no-cost ground lease, BRV would be required to provide discounted membership, access or participation rates for Ridgefield residents. The center would also have to maintain at least 80 hours of facility and aquatic-center operating hours per week year-round, unless otherwise approved by the city or temporarily closed for maintenance or safety reasons.
The agreement calls for aquatic programming to include lap swimming, open recreation swimming, swim lessons, aquatic fitness, organized team or group use and adaptive aquatic opportunities. It also requires efforts to make programming accessible to youth, families, seniors, people with disabilities and low- and moderate-income residents.
The city would receive at least six hours per week of rent-free use of portions of the Recreation Center for city-sponsored recreational or community activities. Those activities would have to be scheduled at least 90 days in advance and coordinated around existing BRV or operator programming.
The agreement also establishes a long-term ownership arrangement. Improvements funded by BRV would be owned by BRV, subject to the city's leasehold interest. At the end of the ground lease, however, ownership of the Recreation Center improvements would transfer to the city.
The proposed agreement sets an outside deadline of Nov. 1, 2028, for substantial completion. The city anticipates construction being completed during the summer of 2028, followed by pre-opening preparations in the fall. The deadline could be extended for unavoidable delays outside the parties' reasonable control.
Before physical construction can proceed, several conditions must be met, Parker said in the presentation.
Those include confirmation of city and BRV funding, execution of the ground lease, resolution of environmental and wetland mitigation requirements, execution of the long-term facility lease, completion of a project and funding schedule and a boundary line adjustment defining the land associated with each portion of the facility.
Once construction is complete, the city would lease the Recreation Center back from BRV under a proposed 30-year operating lease. However, the amount the city would pay under that lease has not yet been finalized.
BRV would also be required to maintain financial-assistance or scholarship programs intended to reduce barriers to participation. The operator would submit an annual programming plan and annual report to the city, allowing city officials to review programming, participation, financial assistance and inclusive recreation efforts.
The city would retain oversight of operations, programming schedules, pricing structures and community-access policies. If the city determines that operations have materially departed from the facility's public recreational purpose, it could request reasonable operational adjustments, provided those changes do not materially affect the Recreation Center's financial viability.
This report was first published by The Reflector Newspaper. Reporter Cade Barker can be reached at [email protected].
