The City of Auburn scrapped its original plan to build a community center at the south end of the Les Gove Community campus last year when the project threatened to burst its budget.

Now the design team is nearly 60 percent complete with the design phase of the less pricey alternative at the north end, adjacent to the activities center – a community and youth center to serve the generations.

At a recent study session, City Councilmembers got an update from Stan Lokting, principal of ARC Architects, whose firm is designing the $9 million Auburn Community and Youth Center, and from assistant City Engineer Jacob Sweeting.

“We are approaching the 60-percent design stage, which brings us close to actually submitting for building permits,” Sweeting said. “The plan is still on schedule. We will be out to bid this summer, construction starts this August, and the center will be open next June.

“Everything is tracking on budget, coming in under $9 million,” Sweeting added.

The $9 million budget breaks down into a $3 million appropriation from the state Legislature and $6 million in City funds. The $3 million appropriation has to be committed to the project by June 30, or the state takes it back.

Lokting said the design team has worked hard to stay true to the City’s original ideas, notably that the center should fit in well with the existing buildings on the Les Gove Campus, in particular with the gymnasium, which was built only a few years ago.

He went on to cite another important principle.

“Finding a color and material palette that was neutral and natural and appropriate for the campus setting that was not only effective from a budget perspective but also from a maintenance perspective, actually became a really important topic,” Lokting said.

Lokting said where possible, construction will incorporate local building materials.

Room to roam

Design drawings show a total of 21,000 square feet of space devoted to educational, cultural and social activities, offering broad views on Les Gove Park.

Taking up 7,300 square feet, the youth center will be created out of the existing Parks, Arts and Recreation administration building. It will offer an arts classroom; a computer lab; youth center staff offices; room for structured programs like dancing and spoken-word events; a dedicated computer lab; an art room; and room for informal activities such as gatherings, games, tutoring and socializing.

The 13,700-square-foot community center is to be built from the ground up. Its heart will be a 3,500-square-foot multi-purpose room, offering enough space for 200-275 people and dividable into three rooms. What the City hopes to achieve with the community center is to create opportunities for public and private events; classes; a fitness room with cardio and resistance machines; city-wide celebrations; storage; offices; and work areas for Parks, Arts and Rec administrative staff.

Shared spaces between the buildings are to include a lobby, some outdoor gathering areas and a teaching and warming kitchen, which the project realizes by renovating and expanding the kitchen.

Lokting said his team took what it learned from earlier meetings with the City Council, with the Junior City Council and with neighbors and community representatives then folded what it learned into several principles that are guiding the design.

One of those principles calls for preserving open space, meaning that the project’s footprint must not encroach into the open area to the east of the existing buildings.

A second principle calls for connections to the park, so that when people first come onto the site they have a primary gathering place and a point of connection between access to the community and youth center and access to the park.

Early plans show 69 parking spaces adjacent to the center and generous buffering to shield the surrounding neighborhood from the project.

Design work began last November.