Local Company Wins Nearly $17 Million Bid To Build Two Community Centers
The Board of Supervisors unanimously awarded the contract to build two Community Resilience Centers, one in Groveland and one in Tuolumne, to Sonora based Robert E. Boyer Construction Inc. Deputy County Administrator Maureen Frank reported to the board that the nine companies who qualified to bid all bid prices within about one million dollars of each other. Boyer Construction had the lowest bid at $16,731,476. Frank said, “It is exciting because Boyer has done projects for the county before, we have had a great relationship with them, and he is local.” The first project Frank worked with Boyer on was the Groveland Ambulance Station.
According to Frank, Lee Moyle of Moyle Excavation Inc. is ready to break ground “yesterday” on both sites simultaneously and is expected to start before the end of this month. With the approval from the supervisors, the exact date of groundbreaking will depend on a final review of the contract and bond paperwork and then the county will issue a notice to proceed.
Both Community Resiliency Centers are planned to be completed within 14 months. More photos of the two CRCs from the architect firm Lionakis are in the image box. The CRC facilities are approximately 8,775 sq. ft. with a large 200-person conference room that can be divided into two, a small 20 people classroom, four offices, a commercial kitchen, and restrooms with showers. They will have power generators and numerous outlets to offer the public when needed.
One thing that isn’t finalized yet is the decision on which of nine additional proposed features for the projects, including a radio tower structure at each site or audio-visual equipment in the classroom and large meeting rooms, and at the Groveland site a pedestrian bridge or crosswalk and an outdoor restroom building.
Funding for two Community Centers almost didn’t happen. Frank noted, as difficult as it was to meet all of the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s (HCD) requirements, after explaining how much both centers would mean to the communities of Groveland and Tuolumne the HCD reached into another grant fund to secure an additional $5 million for both centers to be built.
Tuolumne County was awarded a total of $24,511,125 in federal grant money after the 2013 Rim Fire. The Tuolumne County Supervisors approved an agreement to purchase two acres in Tuolumne for the Tuolumne CRC from the Tuolumne Band of Me Wuk Indians as reported here located along Bay Street and Cherry Loop Blvd. The Groveland CRC will be located along Ferretti Road just past Groveland Community Service District Office.
