Jerry Danforth Speaks on Santa Fe Depot Spending Proposals.
Photo via City of Amarillo livestream.
Amarillo City Council decided during their regular meeting this afternoon not to approve a $1.6 million events pavilion for the Santa Fe Depot.
As reported by The Amarillo Pioneer yesterday, the Amarillo City Council agenda for today’s meeting included over $3 million in spending projects. However, the largest item, a $1.6 million events pavilion, which was set to be built by Panhandle Steel Buildings, was not approved by the council during the meeting.
The proposal was one of two spending measures on the agenda related to the Santa Fe Depot, with the other being installation of utilities (including water and electricity) at the facility by Tri-State General Contracting Group for $102,870.76. Both items were originally on the “Consent Items” portion of the agenda, which meant they were set to be approved along with all of the other spending items in a single vote. However, in response to a request made by James Schenck during the Public Address portion of the meeting, the two items were pulled for separate discussion.
The city’s facilities manager, Jerry Danforth, spoke on both topics. Danforth noted that the WRCA Rodeo uses the grounds during the Rodeo, though they in the past have set up their own tents while using the grounds. The proposed pavilion was therefore envisioned to remove the necessity of using tents and expanding the use of the grounds to help meet demand.
Danforth also pointed out that, as proposed, the pavilion would still leave the grounds with a dirt floor, as the proposal did not include concrete floor. While Danforth mentioned that the facility could be multi-purpose, making sure that the facility could be used for sports such as basketball and volleyball was not considered. Further, the facility as proposed would not have been sufficient for those sports even if a concrete floor was later added, with the height of the proposed pavilion being cited as a primary concern.
Councilman Cole Stanley noted in discussion of the proposal that, in his background running a construction company, there have been times projects have been completed only to then have regrets about not incorporating certain elements into the design. Though the council was concerned about ensuring that a plan would be in place for a proposed facility to be ready in time for this year’s rodeo, they decided to direct Danforth to look into alternative options instead of approving the project as proposed this week.
The other project pulled for separate discussion, providing for installation of utilities at the Santa Fe Depot, was approved. According to Danforth, the city currently runs hoses over the street to provide the grounds with water while being used by the rodeo, while those using the grounds typically provide their own power using generators. That item was approved by the council unanimously.
The rest of the spending items on today’s agenda were also unanimously approved by the council as a part of the consent agenda. For more information about the spending items on the agenda, read our story from yesterday.