Belen Community Center visibly falling apart

April 16, 2010

The Belen Community Center, opened just five years ago, is visibly falling apart, with years of reports and studies attempting to find out why.

“At the time of the field study, structural cracking between the masonry blocks of the walls of the activity center building were observed. In addition, gaps as wide as 1/16 to 1/8-inch were observed where the door frames meet the edges of the block walls,” says a geotechnical engineering study conducted by AMEC Earth & Environmental Inc. given to the city in January.

During a recent walk-through, Belen City Councilor Jerah R. Cordova observed the same problems, as well as cracks in the concrete floor and ceiling beams that are crumbling at least one wall’s masonry blocks.

The Belen Community Center, located north of Belen High School and built in two phases beginning in 2004, has severe distress.

In the first phase, the main building was constructed, which includes meeting rooms of various sizes, an exercise room and office space. During the second phase, a two-story gym was built.

The main building has the structural damage. Other than a leaky roof, no other structural damage has been observed in the gym.

Some of the early damage to the community center occurred in August 2006, when rains rushed through an arroyo to the south, “undermining concrete slabs around the recreational facilities, washing out sidewalks and depositing siltation in the construction retention basin,” according to a January 2009 report by the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration and General Services Department.

“Drainage was a factor in that the water was not adequately diverted away from the building, but apparently diverted the water into the building,” according to the report.

While most of the structural problems have been blamed on the 2006 flooding, even after repairs were made to the community center, the building appears to still be cracking and crumbling.

The geotechnical engineering study was intended to identify the causes of the distress and recommend solutions, in an attempt to salvage the multimillion dollar structure, which, at the extreme, could be deemed structurally unsafe and condemned.

According to the study, there’s no evidence of what the study calls “paleochannels” flowing underneath the structure. Several city officials in the previous administration had suggested underground waterflows were the most likely cause.

The study found that the saturated sod to the west and the drainage arroyo to the south of the structure are both causing “elevated moisture content of near surface soils,” which “is likely adversely affecting the building.”

The study also shows that the soil used in forming the structure’s foundation are “loosely densified” in some areas, which means “additional settlement of footings may occur.”

“Foundations bearing on relatively low density fill soils may be the cause of settlement cracks in the building,” the study says.

The study and concerns about the community center will be discussed at Monday night’s city council meeting.

Posted in: Infrastructure