Gaino Sports Center Project Faces Delays After Bid Withdrawal and Planning Disputes
Hiccups in the procedure for the construction of the Gaino sports center, the hillside hamlet of Toscolano Maderno. “The winner of the tender withdrew, and the second-place bidder does not meet the requirements,” said the mayor Paolo Elena, who leads the Polo. “We will have to start over. I will ask the technical office of the municipality to draft a preliminary project. Then we will return to Gaino to present it to the residents. The sports center must be liked by everyone. I also add that the Merloni Law of late July mandates adherence to certain formalities.”
To prevent the hamlet from becoming a dormitory (there is only one bar amidst many apartments), “we must focus on the new initiative: it’s the lowest price to pay,” Elena had said earlier. “The municipality owns an untapped area of 20,000 square meters, unused for years. We will make it available to private owners, who will build the facility and manage it for 25-30 years. In the end, everything will transfer to public ownership.”
This is the list of works: two football fields (one in dirt, for eleven players, where some of Toscolano’s seven youth teams may play, since the “Ugo Locatelli” stadium in Via Religione needs extra hours, the other in synthetic material for five-a-side games), locker rooms, toilets, first aid station, a kiosk with restaurant, bar, pizzeria, and meeting hall, the stage for the summer festival (at other times, it will serve as a parking lot and as a rectangle for basketball or volleyball).
Moreover, there will be a children’s play area, at least two tennis courts, one bocce court, a fitness gym, the caretaker’s house, a swimming pool (not yet decided whether to opt for an outdoor or indoor pool; in any case, it must have at least four and a half meters depth to allow diving courses), the caretaker’s residence. The volume is 6,000 cubic meters. An investment of 5 billion lire, with the possibility of building a 25-room hotel, which would require a variance.
This operation is not shared by everyone due to its environmental impact. Another issue to resolve concerns the road climbing from the 45 bis, which in some points is very narrow and winding. Subsequently, a tender was issued. Two groups participated in the competition, and a committee awarded points based on numerous criteria: technical and aesthetic value, materials used, execution times, management duration (25, 30 years or a different period?), etc. But in the end, the winner withdrew, and the other was excluded. So, the process must start anew.
The centre-left (former mayor Silvano Boni, Giorgio Pippa, Daniela Vassalini) and environmentalist Cristina Milani left the chamber before the mayor spoke. “We had requested a council meeting to discuss the matter,” the four wrote to the Prefect and the Civic Defender. “The mayor responded that, officially, there is no preliminary project. So, what about the one approved in April, drafted by engineer Giovanni Fior, for a total of 5 billion 535 million lire?”