Demolition ahead for North Aurora Activity Center

NORTH AURORA Village trustees at Mondays Committee of the Whole meeting moved ahead with the demolition of the North Aurora Activity Center.

Trustees in May decided the North Aurora Activity Center at 1 N. Lincolnway was not worth saving. The Activity Center has been closed since March 12 because of structural damage.

Kluber Architects and Engineers presented three different options for demolition. After debating the issue, trustees opted Monday for the cheapest option, which would involve removing the building for an estimated $475,773. The east and south parking lots would remain.

The cost includes asbestos abatement, removal of an underground fuel storage tank, removal of the dirt/sand playground on the south end of the property and keeping the parking area on the north end of the site.

A portion of the funding would come from the insurance money received for the villages property loss $68,763 as well as funds from the closeout of the North Aurora Activity Center fund $92,0002. Other funds would come from reserves in the villages capital projects fund.

As proposed, the North Aurora Activity Center would be demolished by February or March.

Batavia-based Kluber Architects and Engineers in a report had determined there are three sections of the building where the roof joists have failed because they were stressed beyond their maximum designed capacities.

According to the report, the damage to the joists was caused by a combination of the framing not being properly designed for dead and live loads [the building was constructed in the 1930s] and the high snowfall experienced this past season where cold temperatures did not allow for normal periodic melting, Village Administrator Steve Bosco had said.

Adding supports to all of the joists in the affected areas as recommended by Kluber was estimated to cost $219,862, of which the villages insurance company would provide $103,146 in loss contribution.

The villages total out-of-pocket costs would be about $116,715, Bosco said.

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Demolition ahead for North Aurora Activity Center