Fitness room proposal to be discussed on Thursday
January 6, 2009 – Although fewer people responded to a second survey, Marina Towers Condominium Association says there is still support for a proposed fitness center on the 20th floor of one residential tower and a new MTCA meeting room in the other tower. A joint meeting of the Buildings & Grounds Committee and the Decorating Committee has been scheduled for Thursday from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the MTCA Meeting Room. MTCA says unit owners will be allowed to ask questions and discuss the plan in further detail. According to the condo association, 257 unit owners responded to a survey sent out on November 26 along with a letter from MTCA president Donna Leonard. 88 percent were in favor of the project and 12 percent were against it. In the letter, Leonard said the fitness center and meeting room could be built for $435,000 “without assessment increases beyond the ordinary cost of living increases and without a special assessment.” 
(Above) Floor plan for proposed changes to the 20th floor. Former MTCA president says plan is “troubling” A vocal opponent of the plan is former MTCA president Dr. Martin Flynn. In an open letter to owners and renters at Marina City, Flynn says the project “is troubling in many regards, from the insistence of a speedy decision to proceed, to the secrecy surrounding such a large capital improvement.” He’s also concerned that the laundry room will decrease in size, by as much as one-third its current size, and that there would be no bathrooms. “What happens with no bathroom nearby during a meeting, let alone a meeting of any importance?” Flynn disputes claims made by Leonard, such as the existence of corroded pipes. “Laundry room plumbing was gutted and replaced less than eight years ago,” he says. His alternatives to the plan include buying units on the 21st floor of each tower for fitness and meeting rooms. “Prices will be lower and local prices are already depressed. Costs would be spread to owners over many decades.” Other suggestions include putting a fitness facility at the top of each tower, utilizing space on the 19th floor of the west tower, using the old Crunch space, or purchasing the current meeting room. “Cheap is as cheap does,” writes Flynn. “Being a historical home for the middle class does not mean we have to be content with patchwork solutions to our wants and needs.”
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