Idyllwild Community Center committee organizes virtual tour at site
Just how big is the footprint of the 18,000-square-foot community center planned for the 5.26 acre site along Highway 243? Where will it be located on the site? What features are currently planned for the center and surrounding acreage? What trees will remain and where?
For the answers to these questions and more, come to the “Just Imagine” virtual tour of the site, planned by the new Idyllwild Community Center (ICC) committee. From 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13, docents will walk attendees through the footprint of the center where actors will be engaged in feature-appropriate activities. Tour the multipurpose gymnasium but watch out for a half-court basketball game or a dance in a different section. Stand in the center’s lobby admiring phantom art hung in the air in the lobb and gallery. Stay dry when examining the pool area, with its two-story, light-filled airiness and doors opening to the outside for moms to watch their children at play.
Ask to see the plan for the adjacent playground — what will be there when it is built in June 2012.
And if you want a preview of the center itself, go to the new ICC website at www.idyllwildcommunity
center.org for watercolor illustrations of the interior and exterior of the building courtesy of Caroline Carlson. The site goes liveon Sunday, Nov. 13.
The 11-member ICC committee is composed of Bill Lowman, Pete Capparelli, Bill Sanborn, Diane Cardinalli, Jeri Sue Haney, Robert Priefer, Dawn Sonnier, Chris Maxson, Phil Drell, Marge Muir and Chris Singer. Together they total 314 years of Idyllwild residency. Of particular note, those members with fundraising expertise have raised more than $600 million during their professional careers.
The entire center, as presently envisioned, would cost over $6 million to build. Organizers currently plan to build the center in phases, as money permits.
Idyllwild Community Center Leadership Team
The members of the Leadership Team for the Idyllwild Community Center have an impressive record of longevity in Idyllwild, professional experience related to their potential contributions to the project and long histories of community service.
| Name | Years in Idyllwild | Community experience |
| Pete Capparelli | 33 | County Service Area 36 and Idyllwild Fire Protection District commissioner |
| Diane Cardenalli | 12 | former Idyllwild School principal |
| Phill Drell | 30 | former planning Director city of Palm Desert |
| Jeri Sue Haney | 35 | BBVA bank manager, Soroptomists |
| Bill Lowman | 27 | former Idyllwild Arts headmaster |
| Chris Maxson | 14 | business owner, founder Art Alliance of Idyllwild |
| Marge Muir | 53 | County Service Area 38 Advisory committee member and Pine Cove Water District director |
| Robert Priefer | 37 | |
| Bill Sanborn | 25 | Hemet Unified School District trustee |
| Chris Singer | 18 | Idyllwild Chamber of Commerce recreation committee member and chair, Idyllwild Community Recreation Council director and chair |
| Dawn Sonnier | 30 | Idyllwild Community Recreation Council director, long-time sports participant |
