Stanley White Rec and Convention Center offer contrast in storm rebuilding decisions

Feb. 23—The New Bern Board of Aldermen's recent vote to accept the site plan for a new Stanley White Recreation Center moved forward a process that has led many in the Duffyfield community to question the City's proposal to relocate the facility.

One point of contention has been the contrast between how the City has handled the Hurricane Florence damaged recreation center and the approach the county government has taken to repair the Riverside Convention Center, which required major repair work following the storm.

In their deliberations, the New Bern Board of Aldermen has also cited FEMA guidelines as well as an executive order that addresses the use of federal money to rebuild facilities. FEMA necessitates that all construction at the current site must be confined to the existing footprint of the building, meaning a larger facility could not be built.

Federal Executive Order 11988 also requires federal agencies to avoid, to the extent possible, "direct and indirect support of floodplain development wherever there is a practicable alternative."

According to Corey Spaulding, a FEMA consultant working with the City of New Bern, one of the issues with rebuilding Stanley White Recreation Center at its current location is the unstable soil it rests on, a legacy of the site's former use as a landfill. In order to rebuild the Rec Center at its current location, the building would have to be elevated approximately five feet, which would add an estimated $420,617 to the project cost. With that money, an additional 1,500 square feet could be added onto a building located at an alternative site.

"If there is a reasonable alternative to locating the project in the floodplain...you and FEMA are required to not put federal funds back into the floodplain," Spaulding told the Board of Aldermen.

A 2015 executive order signed by President Barack Obama amended Executive Order 11988 by adopting new flood elevation standards for the siting, design, and construction of federal projects.

The Convention Center is one of the main economic drivers of downtown New Bern and the Stanley White Rec Center has served as an athletic and cultural hub for the Duffyfield community for more than 46 years.

Though both facilities are located in flood zone areas of New Bern and experienced flood damage during the hurricane, there are significant differences in the buildings' ages and histories.

While the county-owned Convention Center underwent significant repairs and reopened in October 2019, the Rec Center, which is owned by the City of New Bern, was permanently closed and has been demolished. The New Bern Board of Aldermen has approved plans for a new Rec Center that would be located on Third Avenue, just outside of its historical home in the Duffyfield community.

County-wide, structural damage from Hurricane Florence, which barreled through the area in September 2018, topped the $200 million mark. In New Bern alone, more than 4,300 homes and 300 businesses were damaged or destroyed in the storm, with an estimated $74.5 million in residential damage and $25.6 million in commercial damage.

Completed in 2000, the Riverfront Convention Center, which is owned and maintained by Craven County, was opened as the first major convention venue in Eastern North Carolina. During Hurricane Florence, the building received significant water damage on its first floor from storm surge and rain that poured in through broken windows.

The remediation process began immediately after the storm, with the removal of the Convention Center's first floor carpets, furniture and wall coverings and the stripping of sheetrock up to four feet to avoid mold growth. The building's HVAC and electrical systems also had to be replaced.

During the time it was closed, there was no public discussion by county officials about relocating the Convention Center and no alternative sites were identified.

According to Craig Warren, Craven County finance officer, the repair costs to bring the Convention Center back to its pre-storm condition came in at $3,316,129, while additional renovation and improvements to the facility were made totaling approximately $8,134,000. Warren said the project is 98% complete with some exterior work still remaining.

Warren said he was still in the process of finalizing the claim with the county's insurance company and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which provided funds for the repair work. He said he hoped to have that work completed before the end of the fiscal year.

The unforeseen repair project also allowed the county to address the Convention Center's long-standing floor settlement issues. The land the Convention Center was built on was once part of the Trent River. The area was filled in by old docks and building debris in the 1970s. In 2011 Craven County settled a $1.2 million lawsuit with the original architects and engineers over design flaws, specifically an insufficient number of pilings put under the floor slab. The problem caused areas in the building to settle and several cracks appeared in the flooring. Repairs to the floor slab in 2012 helped mitigate the problem, but did not offer a permanent solution.

The additional work to fix the settling of the floor, which was completed outside of the repair project budget, came in at $484,537.

According to Gene Hodges, assistant county manager, additional work to help control floor settlement at the Convention Center will probably be required every seven to 10 years.

"Hopefully what we're doing is we're retarding the settlement, we're keeping it at bay. It's going to happen but hopefully we've bought more time this time," he commented.

By contrast, the Stanley White Recreation Center, which dates back to 1975, was permanently closed in the days following Hurricane Florence due to structural damage.

Over the last month, the building has been demolished.

While many community members have expressed their desire to have the rec center built back at its current location on Chapman Street, which lies within the 100 year flood plain, the New Bern Board of Aldermen have identified an alternative site on adjacent land between Gaston Boulevard and Third Avenue.

A total amount of $8,600,649 in state and federal funding has been established in a project fund specifically for the rebuilding process. The City received $7.5 million in FEMA grant funding based on plans to rebuild the Rec Center at the Chapman Street location.

The Board of Aldermen continues to maintain that no decision has been made on where to rebuild the Rec Center. However, with the approval of the site plan for a possible Third Avenue facility, and with only Board member Jameesha Harris voting 'no' on the motion, plans for relocation seem to be gaining momentum.

The new Federal Flood Risk Management Standard was designed to ensure that current and future flood risks will be taken into account in the development of federal projects. Agencies have three options for establishing the flood elevation and hazard area used in siting, design, and construction of a federal project:

— Use data and methods informed by best-available, actionable climate science;

— Build two feet above the 100-year flood elevation for standard projects, and three feet above for critical buildings like hospitals and evacuation centers;

— Build to the 500-year flood elevation.

The Board of Aldermen are currently awaiting the completion of an environmental assessment of the Third Avenue property. While their final decision on relocating the Stanley White Recreation Center remains uncertain, the purchase of the property, and its subsequent identification as an alternative site for the facility, would seem to leave the Board little choice in the matter.

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