After more than five years of fundraising by community members, a matching grant, and permitting, as of Thursday morning, the only thing standing between Cambria and a new skate park was a shortfall of about $175,000.
Cambria Community Services District (CCSD) General Manager Matthew McElhenie said the reasons for that included, “Market conditions, engineering estimates, costs, [and] permitting challenges with the County of San Luis Obispo."
McElhenie said three options were presented to the CCSD Board of Directors to consider at its meeting on Thursday: covering the shortfall with district funds, rejecting all construction bids to fundraise more, and rebidding at a future date, or requesting a bid extension with the lowest bidder to allow for more fundraising time.
McElhenie said all of those options had pros and cons but could potentially leave the CCSD's general reserves at under a million dollars.
“We have a lot of capital needs for our fire department," McElhenie said. "There are water and wastewater needs that potentially, under government code, we could borrow from our general fund."
However, luckily for supporters of the skate park, none of those options were needed due to a generous, last-minute gesture.
The Cambria Community Council announced during the meeting that it was bridging the funding gap by moving anonymous funds towards the skate park and drawing additional funds from an investment account.
"I love this community," said Cambria resident Julie Amodei, who has been involved with fundraising efforts over the years. "I live in this community. My children have gone to school in this community.”
Amodei said that during the fundraising process, they had a tradition whenever they received donations.
“The kids would be out here, right here where we are today on a Friday from 3:00 to 4:00, and every time a dollar was put into our bucket they would ring that bell,” Amodei said.
So it was only right for them to ring it one last time Thursday after hearing the good news.
The CCSD and the Cambria Community Council still have to draft an agreement, put it on a future agenda, and approve it, which will allow for building to begin within the next 4-6 weeks.
