Step Taken Towards Building Community Resiliency Centers
Sonora, CA — Tuolumne County is moving to the next phase of planning for one or two community resiliency centers thanks to post Rim Fire grant money.
We reported earlier that $70-million in funding was awarded to the region as part of a federal national resiliency competition. Of which, $16-million can be utilized to construct a community center in Tuolumne, Groveland, or both. The centers would be utilized during emergencies for things like evacuations, but also available during other times for non-emergency purposes beneficial to the community. There could be space for classrooms, offices, food preparation, a gym, etc. Community meetings were recently held in both communities. The Groveland area residents expressed a desire for more senior related activities and the Tuolumne community would like it to be more youth oriented.
The county voted this morning to request proposals from property owners for potential sites that could be utilized. It could be a location for a single, large, community resiliency center, with at least 4.3 buildable acres, or two smaller sites that would need to have at least 2.2 buildable acres each. For more information on the agenda item, click here.
The next major deadline is October of 2018 when the county must decide whether everything is lining up to build one or two centers, or else deny the grant funding. If it moves forward, the board will decide whether there should be one or two sites. There would then be an environmental review period, development of plans, a request for construction bids, and the building of the project or projects. If everything goes as scheduled, completion and opening would come in March of 2022.
It is a topic that will be among discussion at several future supervisors meetings.
