By Linda Taaffe

Town Crier Staff Report

Los Altos

Los Altos may have to cough up $250,000 to relocate the track at Egan Intermediate School or postpone its plans to build two community gymnasiums on the Los Altos School District’s junior high school campuses.

The district board asked the council last week to fund and complete both proposed gyms now and make arrangements to pay for half of the cost to rebuild the Egan track or postpone the projects until the city can simultaneously fund them. The district must relocate the track in order to accommodate the proposed gym.

“Having disparate facilities is not a desired choice of the board, as there may be inequality for a long time, if not forever,” said Board President Jay Thomas.

The Los Altos City Council agreed to move forward with construction drawings for the Egan gym last week, but did not commit to funding a new track at the site or to building both gyms concurrently.

The city has already submitted a bid to the school district for the Blach gym. The district is scheduled to decide whether to accept the bid before Sept. 3 or it expires.

Council members said the $250,000 was an unexpected expense and questioned whether the district would have to replace the aging track despite the gymnasium’s construction.

If the city proceeds with the $4 million gym projects now, officials anticipate completing the projects by next year.

School officials said the new track would need to be put in place in four years.

The city asked the school district in the summer of 1999 to reserve a space at both Egan and Blach campuses for the possible construction of joint-use gyms. Under the agreement, the district would provide the land and the city would pay for the construction of the two full-size gyms.

The arrangement would provide the community more sports programs and the school district improved facilities.

A delay in the district’s renovation plans at Egan gave the city an opportunity to construct both Egan and Blach gyms simultaneously.

The district plan was to house Egan students in temporary facilities called “portable classrooms” for one year while the campus was being renovated.

Then each district elementary school would be housed at the portable classrooms, one year at a time, while Egan students were to return to their newly renovated classrooms.

But the district’s one-year delay means Egan students will continue in the portable classrooms.

City Manager Phil Rose called the delay “a window of opportunity.”

During a past interview, he noted a cost savings and logistics advantage to renovating both gyms at the same time.

Blach gym plans include a lobby, one standard basketball court and bleachers that will seat 500 spectators.

A covered walkway could connect the gym to school bathrooms at the back of the site.

At Egan, the district would build new restrooms and a locker room at the side of the existing multipurpose room that could be connected to the gym.

The council had planned on funding the gyms through a proposed utility tax increase, which residents defeated in November 1999.

The council agreed in June 2000 to put aside $3.5 million from its budget for the future construction of gyms at both campuses.

The total project is estimated to cost $4 million for construction and $420,000 for design services.

The council set aside money for the design costs as well as $2 million toward construction costs.

The other $1.5 million will come from community contributions anticipated in this year’s budget, the city anticipates.

If the city plans to proceed with the projects, it would use funds from the estimated $4.5 million sale of a sewer treatment plant to pay for the project, said Assistant City Manager Starla Jerome-Robinson.