The Strategic Alternatives Committee took new steps at its weekly meeting on Friday, June 30, 2023 at the Grand Center in the Sonoran Room as the focus turned to Committee Member presentations.
This meeting was also the first experiment in using Microsoft Teams for our group and the timing proved very beneficial for one of our presenters since he was in Lake Tahoe!
The next few meetings will continue to feature Committee Members as the presenters, as they demonstrate their conception of an Alternative Plan for Mountain View. The first such plan was given at the June 16th meeting by Co-Chair John Fast and introduced the use of retractable theater seating; not at Mountain View but at the Sundial Auditorium. (Presentation under June 16th Meeting.) Retractable, upholstered seating would provide comfortable seats, would be quick to install, and would require little construction work. The cost for 448 seats would be approximately $312,000. Treasurer Fast realizes that this does not provide a “pure” theater but increases other flat floor utilization while adding an inexpensive Wow factor to Sundial. However, many on the committee felt that scheduling events at the already popular auditorium would increase scheduling issues and still leaves the question of what to do with the auditorium at Mountain View.
The meeting opened with presentations noted as ALT 2 and ALT 3 as the first to be offered by Committee Member s Steve Oaks, Long Range Planning Committee representative, gave two presentations: one centered on Mountain View; the other, Lakeview. In the Mountain View presentation, Steve asked us to “Think Big, Think Creative, Think Long Term and Think Holistically (in the absence of a budget ceiling) He proposed working on two building projects at the same time. He concentrated on the renovation of the Fitness Center, added a sports pool to the center, and proposed shaded Pickleball Courts.
In his presentation for Lakeview, Steve felt that Performing Arts Center would embrace the aesthetics of the lake for ambiance and help turn this area into the Center of Town. Presentation listed as ALT 4 was given by another member of the Long Ra nge Planning Committee, Russ Toland. He, too, would move the PAC to Lakeview, utilizing steel building construction and a 286 seat building with gentle sloped aisles and an elevated platform. He stressed that the Lakeview location is ideal for this type of commercial building, and imagined a Wi Fi café, and perhaps a restaurant/bar and casual lounge seating.
Alternative Presentation #5 also presented on June 30 was the brainchild of Susan Chatterjee, a committee member representing the neighbors of the Mountain View area. Sue refreshed our memories on the history or saga of a Mountain View renovation and the promises made to both the Players Club and the Pickleball Clubs by previous Boards. She creatively took the site plan drawn by CCBG architects, Option 1, and some of the better points of Option 2, and drew up her plan called Option 1B. She felt by eliminating the walking track and the fly capability of the theater, demolishing the obsolete solar array, replacing the idea of a Gymnasium with 8 Pickleball Courts and building both a Resort and a Lap Pool, would finally provide the long awaited Center that the neighborhood (and community) deserves.
Each presenter received a round of applause and many questions and comments were exchanged.
The next SAC meeting will be held on Friday, July 7th in the Sonoran Room at the Grand Center, 10415 W. Grand Avenue and will feature four more presentations by our Members. Meetings start promptly at 2 pm. Members are welcome to attend.
NOTE: Press releases regarding the work of the RCSC Board of Directors Strategic Alternatives Ad Hoc Committee (SAC) are authored by the ad hoc committee and distributed/posted by RCSC media staff.
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