Lagoon Center Comment

From the Subcommittee of the San Dieguito Lagoon Committee August 25, 2009

Kudos for:
Overall layout of structures and viewing platforms.
Focus on the outdoors and on the resources being preserved.
Placement of parking areas: appropriately divides equestrian-related parking from other.
Well designed landscaping, incorporating native plants and natural contours
Tucking the buildings into the landscape as appropriate and minimizing building impact.
Natural building materials proposed.
Buildings designed for low energy use.
Reception and book shop included.
Viewing platforms well placed.

Concerns:
The proposed Lagoon Nature Center calls for too large a footprint, too many buildings, too much square footage, too much apparent hardscape.
• Excess building space provides for too many functions that are not primary needs.
• Many interior spaces are single, specific purpose rooms.
• Excessive office space: “open office” could be smaller, allowing for “conference room to be larger and serve as conference/meeting room, eliminating the need for other meeting space.
• Interactive Lab space is inappropriate (indoors), costly to equip and unlikely to be utilized. (Whatever happened to working outdoors?) It seems “over the top.”
• Three different restroom facilities: expensive to build and difficult to maintain well.
• Amphitheatre is too large, requiring excess hardscape and drawing visitors from the viewing platforms and trails.
• Parking, as designed, appears inadequate for plans and uses depicted, but as stated in recommendations below, we support fewer uses and spaces anyway.

Recommendations:
• Combine uses of interior spaces to reduce the building footprint/reduce the number of rooms/buildings.
• Disperse interpretive signage throughout the outdoor spaces between/on building walls e.g. in “courtyard,” which would reduce the interior exhibit space needs.
• Eliminate upper level buildings: Kitchen, Toilet and easternmost Meeting Room and Storage Room (below). Some of this square footage could be added as suggested below. A kitchen is unnecessary and would add long term user and maintenance expenses.
• Increase the footprint of and redesign the building space currently identified as AV Room/Reception/ Bookstore/Exhibit/Special Exhibit (lower level) and View Deck (upper level) to include whatever meeting and storage space is needed.
• Instead of a courtyard (which we interpret as hardscape), why not plant that space as a garden of native species with appropriate identifiers on various plants? Provide pathways for viewer enjoyment, a few seating areas.
• Redesign amphitheatre by eliminating the upper (northern) portion; instead, create a landscape buffer there. Perhaps even narrow the amphitheatre.
• Combine restrooms/increase number of stalls and eliminate duplication.
• Do not add parking spaces to satisfy the conceptual design; instead, downsize the uses. More hardscape is not needed.
• Design the structure to eliminate future overhead and maintenance issues as upcoming SDRP budgets will still present challenges.

Liz, Jan & Bill