By Sam Richards

Staff writer

Thursday, January 16 (10:00 a.m.): The GRF Planning Committee will recommend approval of the 2025 Capital Projects list, coming in at $7.408 million, including more than $4 million for the planned pickleball facility .

That recommended budget and amount is expected to come before the GRF Finance Committee and the full GRF Board in February.

To make the numbers work, taking both income from the GRF Trust Reserve Fund (including money from Membership Transfer Fees on Rossmoor home sales) and maintaining a $2 million cash balance in that fund, two planned expenses were trimmed – paving projects for 2025 were cut from just over $1 million to just over $900,000, and action on results from an in-process food and beverage study cut from $250,000 to $200,000.

In November, the Planning Committee was told the cost estimate for the pickleball structure had risen to about $4 million, about $800,000 higher than earlier estimates. Some committee members were surprised at the time, but Ann Mottola, GRF’s director of community services, has since said some increase was expected, as more information about actual costs, and changing requirements from the city of Walnut Creek, surfaced over the natural progression of the project.

Committee members in November said they recognized the importance of the planned pickleball structure, both to serve one of Rossmoor’s largest clubs (more than 600 members) and to play a part in the marketing of Rossmoor as a place to live. Pickleball, they say, is an important amenity for people weighing where their next home will be.

At November’s meeting, the committee learned that a “pre-construction estimate” for the long-discussed project near the Event Center came to just under $4 million.

Of the 15 projects on the Capital Projects list approved for recommendation last week, only two – the $200,000 related to the Food and Beverage study and conversion of the lawn bowling greens from natural to artificial turf ($40,000) – were new projects for 2025. Ten others were “carryovers,” projects initiated in previous budget years. Three others – the street pavement program (now about $900,000), three specific building maintenance/repair projects ($85,000) and skylight replacement at the Tice Creek Fitness Center ($25,000) – are considered “ongoing” major maintenance projects.

The idea to defer all action on the Food and Beverage Study was briefly discussed last week but rejected. “Residents are clamoring for food and beverage options, and it’s been a year …” said Planning Committee member Dwight Walker.

Other capital project funding recommendations to the GRF Board and the Finance Committee include:

• $544,472 for launching the new NetSuite financial and property- management software;
• $176,110 for working on a replacement for the MOD office building. Among the options are turning the former John Muir medical building near Safeway into the MOD building; a new MOD building near where the existing one is, or a new Rossmoor “city hall” building encompassing more than MOD;
• $672,552 for replacing bridges over Tice Creek on the Creekside golf course;
• $250,000 for replastering the Tice Creek Fitness Center swimming pools and spa;
• $152,340 for replacement of the golf course water pump;
• $50,000 for golf lake bottom liner replacement;
• $30,000 for an emergency generator for the Entry Control Facility (the main entry gate).

There may well be further adjustments at the Finance Committee and/or the GRF Board level.