Pool News: CRC Gets New Fencing, YMCA Delayed

By Mirna Alfonso

A spanking new, gleaming black fence now surrounds the Community Recreation Center pool at Ronald Reagan Sports Park in Temecula.

“We replaced 1,900 feet of fence and added 275 feet of new fence between the swimming pool area and the amphitheater (2,175 total) along the creek side,” Will Becerra, project manager and associate City of Temecula engineer, told Patch in an email.

Replacement and addition of new fencing was included in the city’s Capital Improvement Budget and set the city back $145,000, Becerra reported.

Construction surrounding the swimming pool started just after Labor Day and finished just after the New Year began, roughly four months, Becerra confirmed.

The old fence was installed in 1992, when the recreation center was built.

The Ronald Reagan Sports Park (formerly named the Rancho California Sports Park), 30875 Rancho Vista Road is a 128-acre site that includes the Community Recreation Center and other amenities:

• Five unlit ball fields
• Five lit ball fields
• Two lit football/soccer fields
• Children's play area
• Picnic shelter
• BBQs
• Picnic tables
• Restrooms

In other recreation center news, the much anticipated opening of the new recreation center in the old YMCA is not expected until the fall of 2015, according to Amer Attar, acting city engineer.

"With respect to the old YMCA building repairs and remediation, the design of these repairs is underway and we anticipate the design to be done by fall 2014," Attar told Patch in an email.

The relationship between the city and the Y goes back to January 2003, when the two entered into a ground lease agreement.

The YMCA, at 29119 Margarita Road, subsequently built an edifice on the city-owned land but then ran into financial trouble and filed for bankruptcy.

Between 2011 and 2012, lifeguards went months without getting paid and maintenance efforts in the building degenerated.

When the pool water turned green, the place was shut down.

The City has budgeted $1.4 million in its CIP budget to restore the building, which it assumed ownership of in May 2013 without any funds changing hands, through the court-controlled bankruptcy process, according to Greg Butler, assistant Temecula city manager. 

"During the bankruptcy process the appointed bankruptcy trustee evaluated the YMCA and concluded that given the state it was in, it was not considered an asset and thus as a matter of law the YMCA’s lease was terminated and the City assumed possession and ownership," Butler wrote in an email to Patch.

Prior to the bankruptcy, the building had been appraised at approximately $1.6 million if it were to have been in good condition.

"During the City’s due diligence period while in escrow we discovered several deficiencies in the facility that necessitated repairs/reconstruction in excess of $1.2M," Butler stated. "This prolonged negotiations."

—Maggie Avants contributed to this report.

Editor's Note: This article, originally published Jan. 25, 2014, was corrected Jan. 28, 2014 with regard to how the city came to own the YMCA building. Patch apologizes for the erroneous reporting.