Building resilience
Tuolumne County company awarded $16.7 million contract for construction of new community centers
Aconstruction company based in Tuolumne County plans to break ground by the end of the month on two new so-called community resilience centers in Groveland and the township of Tuolumne that are funded entirely by state and federal grants totaling nearly $25 million.
The Sonora-based Robert E. Boyer Construction Inc. beat out four other companies from Hilmar, Lodi, Walnut Creek and Escalon in a competitive bidding process for the $16.7 million contract to build the facilities, which was formally approved by the county Board of Supervisors at a public meeting on Tuesday.
“It’s exciting that not only is the main contractor local, but several of the subcontractors which will be working on the Boyer team are also local,” said Deputy County Administrator Maureen Frank, who is overseeing the projects. “You like to see grant funds revolve within the community as much as you can, and this a great way to do that.”
Other major projects that Robert E.
Boyer Construction has worked on include the construction of Rush Creek Lodge on Highway 120 near the entrance to Yosemite National Park, the yet-to-open Sonora Armory entertainment venue, and a $35 million reconstruction of the City of Berkeley’s Tuolumne Camp that burned in the 2013 Rim Fire.
The development of the centers is more than five years in the making and funded mostly by part of a $70 million federal grant that California received in 2016 through the National Disaster Resilience Competition under then President Barack Obama, specifically for projects to help Tuolumne County recover from the Rim Fire and better withstand future catastrophes.
About $20 million from the grant was dedicated for the county to design and construct the centers. Another $28 million was earmarked for projects to restore forested areas scorched by the mega-blaze and create fuel breaks, while the remaining $22 million was to develop a biomass energy and wood products manufacturing facility.
An additional $5 million to close a funding gap for the centers was provided by the state early last year through money leftover from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which was intended to help stabilize communities with high rates of abandoned and foreclosed homes as a result of the 2008 economic crash.
Construction on both the centers is expected to begin by the end of the month and be completed by about mid-july next year, with the centers opening for public use shortly thereafter.
The community resilience center in Groveland will be located along Ferretti Road just past the Groveland Community Services District headquarters, while the one in Tuolumne will be on the corner of Bay Street and Cherry Boulevard.
Both centers will be about 8,775 square feet and contain a lobby area, office space, large gathering room for up to 200 people, commercial kitchen, bathrooms and up to two classrooms. They will also have approximately 200 parking spaces and a “multi-functional outdoor area,” such as a covered picnic area or stage.
Lionakis, an architectural firm based in Sacramento, received the $1.6 million contract to design the facilities. The company has previously consulted on projects with the county, including the recently opened new $51 million jail.
Frank said the centers were designed to incorporate input gathered from several rounds of public meetings with citizens and organizations in each of the communities so they could be tailored to their specific needs.
For example, Frank said Columbia College is planning to host hospitality courses out of the Groveland center due to the growing number of hotels and resorts capitalizing on traffic along Highway 120 to Yosemite National Park that are in need of more trained workers.
“A lot of the hotels, restaurants, resorts tend to get employees now that are new to the hospitality world,” she said. “They have a van that takes them down right now to Columbia College for hospitality classes, but they will be able to use the classes up in Groveland to do training for them there.”
Southside Senior Services Inc., a nonprofit organization that caters to the needs of older populations in the Groveland, is also planning to use the new center that will be equipped with a commercial kitchen and other amenities that are currently unavailable at the 1950s-era home they currently rent from the county.
Frank said the Groveland community was more desiring of a center that would serve as a place for people to gather and have events, so there will also be an outdoor amphitheater that could potentially serve as a venue for performances and presentations.
The center in the township of Tuolumne, meanwhile, will be more focused on contributing to spurring economic development in the area. Frank said one example is that the county Superintendent of Schools Office plans to offer educational services for adults out of the center.
“Those are adults who for one reason or another didn’t do well in the traditional high school setting, but are very encouraged about going back and getting their degrees,” Frank said. “They can provide those services in a very community oriented type of facility and provide a space that those adults will feel comfortable in.”
Other organizations that have already committed to renting space regularly at the facilities include the AmadorTuolumne Community Action Agency and Sheriff’s Community Services Unit, while those committed to providing intermittent services include Groveland Community Services District, Mother Job Training, county Animal Control, and the county library.
The rent from organizations renting the facilities for offices or hosting events is planned to offset the annual cost of maintaining and operating them, which is expected to be about $45,000 a year each. In May, county supervisors approved a contract with the state pledging to maintain and operate them through at least 2027 or pay back the grant funding used for their construction.
Frank said the board will have to approve the rental fees for the facilities, though she said the goal is to keep them as low as possible because — unlike a private company — the county will not be looking to make a profit.
“The opportunities and benefits are tremendous,” she said. “It’s really going to be up to the community to decide how they want to see these utilized in the future.”
The state originally wanted the county to build a single, large center that would have cost more to maintain and operate and wouldn’t have made sense for either community given the relatively small population in each, though they were able to split them into two smaller projects with the help of lobbying from former county supervisors Evan Royce, John Gray, Randy Hanvelt, Karl Rodefer, Sherri Brennan, and former county administrator Craig Pedro.
Besides offering a place for people to shelter in times of emergency, Frank said the biggest benefits she sees for the communities will be the ability for the county and other groups to offer services closer to them as most are provided out of the Sonora area.
“I think that’s what makes these buildings different than most other county facilities,” she said. “It’s not a community center, it’s a resiliency center.”
“The opportunities and benefits are tremendous. It’s really going to be up to the community to decide how they want to see these utilized in the future.”
— Maureen Frank, deputy Tuolumne County administrator