S.J. County Health facility moves forward

STOCKTON -- The need for a new facility for San Joaquin County’s Public Health Services agency, called for in county documents dating 30 years into the past, has taken a major stop toward being met.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a $1.2 million payment to Dreyfuss+Blackford Architecture for architectural and engineering services for the construction of the new facility.

The facility will be built on the same plot of land as then current building at Wilson Way and Hazelton Avenue, Stockton.

“We are excited to bring new construction to the neighborhood that will provide a safe and welcoming site for our staff to provide services to the community,” Public Health Services Director Tammy Evans said.

Supervisor Kathy Miller added, “It will be a shot in the arm for a community that hasn’t seen anything like this for a long time.”

The county’s public-health department serves an array of functions. It is a go-to place for birth and death certificates; a provider of affordable primary health care; host to wellness-related class; and it offers testing for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases.

The current facility, which includes a laboratory, was built in 1963. By 1989, officials were pointing out the building’s “inadequacy,” and 13 years later a consultant wrote that the building’s “mechanical, electrical and plumbing infrastructure is inadequate for the current building and has outlived its useful life by about 20 years.”

“It is undersized to provide adequate service in terms of basic air conditioning, additional power outlets, etc.,” the consultant added in 2002.

Workers in the building also worry that the existence of multiple entry points to the facility raises security concerns.

The newly approved plan proposes a main public-health “base project” (19,700 square feet) attached to an 8,100square-foot laboratory.

The main building comes with a price tag of $18 million. The lab attachment, an optional add-on depending on finances, would cost about $7 million.

According to county documents, there is a funding shortfall of about $4 million shortfall for the lab. A county official said the new building could be built without the lab, which could be added at a later date as funding allows.

Supervisor Chuck Winn voiced support for trying to locate funding so the entire facility can be built at once. The lab, officials say, could be a revenue generator for the county, providing services for a fee to hospitals and other county health departments.

“The business case for the lab has been made,” Evans said. “I believe the lab will be included when all is said and done.”