By Stephanie Yost
Idyllwild Community Center

The nonprofit San Jacinto Mountain Community Center Inc. (SJMCC), doing business as the Idyllwild Community Center (ICC), broke ground at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 12 at a public ceremony at the construction site, located immediately to the left of the Idyllwild Community Playground and above the Butterfield Amphitheater. ICC operates and maintains both facilities, in addition to Idyllwild Town Hall and the skatepark, dog park and pickleball courts, located at Idyllwild Pines.

As the speakers, including Riverside County 3rd District Supervisor Chuck Washington, ICC President Stephanie Yost and ICC Board Adviser Pete Capparelli noted, this event was a long time coming.

SJMCC was originally founded more than 20 years ago with the goal of building a community center and providing recreational services on the Hill, explained longtime resident Pete Capparelli, and various community fundraising efforts have contributed in part to the project.

Loie and Dave Butterfield donated the property on which the new community center, as well as the Idyllwild Community Playground and Butterfield Amphitheater, are located. The Butterfields also paid all costs for Phase 1 construction of the project that was completed in July 2019 and included the amphitheater and all infrastructure (parking areas, proper drainage, environmental and other studies, etc.) necessary for Phase 2, which is the building itself.

In 2017, ICC received a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for $1.3 million through the support and guidance of Riverside County 3rd District Supervisor Chuck Washington. This is intended to cover a portion of the budget to construct the originally-designed two-story 8,000-square-foot community center building.

In 2020, however, the ICC Board of Directors decided to scale back the project to a single-story 2,000-square-foot building that could, at that time, be constructed without more grant funds.

The reason for this change was twofold. First, the Butterfields and Tom Hawthorne had recently purchased Idyllwild Town Hall and were extensively renovating the property, slated to be donated to ICC to operate and maintain for the benefit of the mountain communities. With the planned acquisition of Idyllwild Town Hall, ICC could transfer some of the new community center’s planned functionality to Town Hall, which would make more effective use of both structures.

Second, the smaller community center building would be much more cost-effective for ICC to operate and maintain in the future.

During spring and summer of 2020, ICC used existing community donations and a portion of the original CDBG grant funds to build the perimeter fence, add 10 more rows of seating, add the sound mixing platform, and finish the “green room” backstage area and restrooms for the Butterfield Amphitheater. Also, ICC used community donations to hire local architect Erik Marcussen of Ground Floor Design to design the new, single-story structure.

The planned community center design is a contemporary expression of mountain architecture, both present and past. Exterior materials were inspired by those of the new Town Hall, with the addition of river rock veneer as a nod to the nearby Strawberry Creek. The open interior will be accented by a vaulted, tongue-in-groove cedar ceiling to reflect its alpine character and the exterior deck nestled into the trees behind the building will overlook the amphitheater.

The new structure will include a great room, catering kitchen, outdoor deck space, office, and public indoor and outdoor restrooms to serve private events and visitors to the Community Playground, while also supporting the nearby Butterfield Amphitheater with an ancillary ticket office.

Although COVID slowed down the county planning department’s review and approval of the new building plans, they were eventually approved this past spring and the CDBG-mandated public bidding process implemented. LM Rasmussen Construction of Alpine provided the winning bid. No local Hill general contractors submitted bids or contacted ICC for bid information.

The one wrinkle in the plan to build the smaller building with existing funds was that construction costs had dramatically increased between winter 2020 and spring 2022, so that now ICC was short about $400,000 just to complete the basic building construction (excluding the large back deck, indoor kitchen equipment and interior finishings).

A few weeks ago, after a conversation with me about the shortfall, Washington again stepped up to support the project and the community by agreeing to provide the $400,000.

In his remarks at the ceremony, Washington expressed his deep and long-standing attachment to the Hill going back more than 40 years. He shared several personal stories about he and his family’s experiences in Idyllwild and discussed the importance of supporting community projects like this one.

Although the mountain communities are moving into the 4th District in Riverside County (under Supervisor Manuel Perez) effective the beginning of 2023 due to a census redistricting mandate, Washington indicated that the Hill will always have his interest and support. He further said he looks forward to attending the grand opening of the new community center once it’s completed.

Also present at the ceremony were Deputy Director at Riverside County Housing and Workforce Solutions Michael Walsh, who is overseeing ICC using CBDG funds and project construction requirements, and Darin Schemmer, director of communications for Perez. Accompanying Washington were his Deputy Chief of Staff Robyn Brock, Board Assistant Melissa Morfin, and former Legislative Assistant Opal Hellweg, who was instrumental in helping ICC through the grant process and project planning before her retirement in December 2021.

At the close of my remarks, I presented Washington with one of ICC’s new T-shirts that ICC’s board, staff and regular volunteers recently received. “You are certainly our most ‘preeminent volunteer’ with all you’ve done for our mountain communities and ICC,” I said.

I further stated, “The target for construction completion is some time next summer, assuming we have no more floods, fires or plagues. Once the building construction is completed, the finishing features will be built with community donations. And for those of you wondering about the originally planned Phase 3 gymnasium, please know ICC is working on it.”

Construction will begin promptly after Sept. 15 (the end of the migratory bird season). ICC’s understanding from the general contractor is that the impact of the project construction on the Community Playground and Butterfield Amphitheater will be minimal.

ICC is committed to keeping the community informed of the project progress as it moves forward.