New seats at Carson City Community Center theater closer to reality

The installation of new seats in the Carson City Community Center’s Bob Boldrick Theater moved closer to reality on Monday when the Redevelopment Authority Citizens Committee allocated part of its 2019 budget to the project.

RACC made its annual recommendation to the Redevelopment Authority on how to spend undesignated funds in the coming fiscal year.

The committee members considered eight projects and theater seating was a clear favorite.

RACC allocated $183,859 to the project. That consists of $68,859 in undesignated funds carried over from 2018; $20,000 in money redirected from the utility assistance program; and $100,000 from the downtown facade improvement program. The funding will come by cutting the $100,000 program in half, and dedicating the money from both 2018 and 2019 budgets to the theater project.

The complete project to renovate Bob Boldrick Theater is estimated to cost $600,000 — $300,000 to replace 700 seats, $50,000 for design and contingency, $50,000 to resurface and treat concrete flooring, $100,000 to paint, and $100,000 to remove and replace acoustic panels.

Parks, Recreation and Open Space, which manages the Community Center, has so far set aside $170,000 for the theater project.

RACC committed funds to one other project in 2019, $5,000 for a portable sound system for McFadden Plaza.

RACC also allocated in its 2020 budget $50,000 to construction of a playground at The Children’s Museum of Northern Nevada, and $100,000 for a new sound system at Fuji Park.

In another action, RACC recommended $5,000 for a large event tent for Fuji Park, which will be used for the Carson City Fair and other events.

The commission also decided to authorize the expenditure of $5,000 of $30,000 it had allocated to signs for South Carson Street. The money will be used to design new signage in conjunction with the redesign of the road.

Dan Stucky, city engineer, gave a presentation on the Downtown Curry Streetscape Improvement Project, which is at 90 percent design.

The $3.22 million project, much like the downtown Carson Street project, will replace some utility lines, repave the street, and widen some sidewalks on five blocks of Curry Street between Musser and Robinson streets as well as one block of each side street between Carson and Curry streets and an alleyway between Spear and Telegraph streets.

Stucky said a meeting with local businesses to talk about the schedule and street closures during construction is set for March 22.