The Edmond City Council approved a $17.5 million budget for its planned renovation of the A.C. Caplinger Sports Complex and adopted fees for city-owned electric vehicle charging stations at its meeting Monday night.
Approval of the A.C. Caplinger budget comes nearly two months after the city paid $1,642,500 in a settlement agreement with its former partner for a proposed indoor sports complex.
Renovations for the A.C. Caplinger Sports Complex entail equipping 10 fields with synthetic turf infields, grass outfields, new lighting, more parking and another restroom. The current complex has 12 fields, and the Edmond City Council recently approved the final concept for complex renovations on Jan. 8.
“The design estimate is six months. We’ll look to hold the spring season and begin construction late summer,” said Brad Raney, Edmond parks director.
Raney said construction is estimated to take about a year, which means the A.C. Caplinger ballfields would be offline for the fall 2024 and spring 2025 seasons. However, Mitch Park would still be available for baseball and softball.
“Twelve fields are going to be coming offline about a year for construction,” Raney said. “You’ve got to have time for the grass to grow in.”
The budget for the project includes about $16.1 million for construction from Crossland Construction and about $1.3 million for design services from Halff Associates. The Edmond City Council approved a $35,000 agreement with Crossland Construction at its Jan. 8 meeting for “construction manager at risk” services.
With the construction manager at risk method, the city hires a construction manager to work alongside the architect through both design and construction to prepare rolling cost estimates so the city is informed earlier on bid pricing.
Both phases of the project — demolition and construction — will be bid publicly, and Crossland Construction will make recommendations on bids before they are brought before the Edmond City Council. The contractor will also receive 4 percent of the guaranteed maximum project price.
Council adopts rates for EV chargers
During Monday’s meeting, the Edmond City Council also set fees for its 10 electric vehicle charging stations within the city. Effective April 1, the city’s level-two charging stations will charge $0.25 per kWh, and the city’s lone level-three charging station at Festival Market Place which will charge $0.32 per kWh.
“That (revenue) would be put in a pot to use for future replacement of EV stations as they need to be replaced and upgraded,” said Glenn Fisher, director of Edmond Electric, during an Edmond City Council workshop Monday afternoon.
Prior to the adoption, there was no charge for using the stations. As use has increased, Fisher said fees to cover operations and maintenance should be established.
“Initially, when we started this program in partnership with [the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments], the previous City Council decided that to promote EV’s and to promote the charging stations, they would not charge a fee for their use,” Fisher said.
Three level-two charging stations can be found at Service Blake Soccer Complex. Two more can be found at Mitch Park, while others can be found at Edmond Center Court, the City First building, Edmond Railyard, and at the intersection of East 5th Street and South Broadway.
City still seeking indoor sports complex after settlement
As part of a settlement agreement signed Dec. 20, the City of Edmond paid $1,500,000 to Summit Sports Partners, the city’s former partner in developing an indoor sports complex. The city also paid $142,500 to Bockus Payne — an architectural firm that contracted with Summit Sports Partners on the project — for the purpose of satisfying part of the development team’s debt.
“Both sides are satisfied with the result of the settlement,” said Bill Begley, Edmond’s marketing and public relations manager. “The pursuit of development of an indoor sports complex is part of the strategic plan for 2024 adopted by City Council, and the city remains open to entertaining proposals for the development of such a project.”
Now, less than two months after settling the lawsuit with Summit Sports Partners, city leaders are discussing an indoor sports complex with another development team.
“We continue to talk to these guys and hopefully we’ll have some things going on that as well,” Edmond Economic Development Authority director Janet Yowell said Jan. 16. “They’re right now looking at the southwest corner as their favored site for a potential location there. This would be for volleyball and basketball.”
By filing their lawsuit in August 2022, Summit Sports Partners alleged that the city violated their 2012 contract by improperly entering negotiations in February 2021 with FieldHouse USA, another sports complex developer. City officials ultimately terminated the agreement with Summit Sports Partners in September 2021.
Plans for the canceled 155,000-square-foot sports complex included eight basketball courts, 16 volleyball courts, two indoor soccer fields, space for fitness and personal training facilities, medical and physical therapy services, 25,000 square feet of viewing and lounge space, and an area for casual dining.
In a motion for summary judgement, attorneys for the city argued the agreement’s termination was justified, as the development group failed to commence construction on the project throughout the nine-year contract term.
However, Summit Sports Partners denied responsibility for nonperformance, instead blaming the city for an alleged “unilateral” change of location from the northeast corner of I-35 and Covell Road to the northwest corner. In its motion opposing summary judgment, Summit Sports Partners argued that Edmond officials “considered the construction deadline extended” in response to the city’s relocation proposal, which was introduced in 2020.
Despite Summit Sports Partners’ inaction, the city continued to collected $5,000 from the development team each month throughout the life of the contract, amounting to nearly $500,000 total. Oklahoma County District Judge Don Andrews denied the city’s motion June 22, and the settlement was struck six months later.
Read Edmond’s settlement with Summit Sports Partners
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