New ICC building coming soon

By Stephanie Yost
Idyllwild Community Center President

The long-awaited Idyllwild Community Center (ICC) building is soon to be a reality. After many years of planning and fundraising, and then more years of planning and fundraising, the new building is finally on track to be built.

ICC, doing business as the original 501(c)(3) nonprofit San Jacinto Mountain Community Center Inc. that initially envisioned this project many years ago, has both the funding and approved building plans needed to move forward.

The primary funding for the project is a federal Community Development Block Grant, with vital secondary funding provided by donations from many individuals and businesses in the local mountain communities. These funds also paid for the fencing around the Butterfield Amphitheater ICC installed in 2020.

After almost a year in plan check, Riverside County approved ICC’s plans for the new building, which local architect Erik Marcussen of Ground Floor Design Inc. designed. (Plan check is when a jurisdiction reviews and comments on permit applications and building plans.)

Marcussen, who will help manage the building project on ICC’s behalf, submitted the plans in March 2020, and subsequently joined the ICC Board of Directors in January 2021.

Because a U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant will fund the building, ICC will be posting advertised public bid notices for the project in various approved publications very soon. The bid process requires a 30-day bid period, at which time ICC will publicly open the submitted bids and select the general contractor to build the project per HUD’s requirements.

The building ground-breaking and completion schedule will be subject to the selected general contractor’s schedule — as well as Idyllwild’s weather.

The new community center building will be located to the left (north) of the Idyllwild Community Playground. The about 2,000-square-foot, single-story structure will include a great room, kitchen with indoor and outdoor access, ticket office, business office, storage, and a large (1,600-square-foot) outdoor back deck overlooking the Butterfield Amphitheater, as well as an indoor restroom and outdoor restrooms available to playground visitors.

Because this building is smaller than that originally envisioned years ago, very little grading is necessary at the building site and no large trees will be removed.

For information about ICC’s building plans, programs and events, visit idyllwildcommunitycenter.org.