A workshop participant adds amenities to a preliminary layout for the proposed 60-acre recreation complex Aug. 17 at the Yuba College Sutter Center. The field and facility cutouts provided to each group were drawn to scale, allowing residents to experiment with possible configurations.

YUBA CITY, CA (MPG) - An indoor multipurpose recreation complex, additional practice fields and more inclusive recreation opportunities emerged among the early priorities Monday as residents got their first chance to help shape a proposed regional recreation facility in north Yuba City.

The first of several community workshops was held Aug. 17 at the Yuba College Sutter Center as the city prepares an application for as much as $8.5 million through the California Statewide Park Development and Community Revitalization Program. The competitive grant funds new parks and recreation facilities with no local funding match required, something Yuba City Public Works Director Josh Wolffe described as a rare opportunity.

“For us, that's like a unicorn,” Wolffe told attendees. “That means we don't have to spend any of the city's local revenue that you're paying into to fund this.”

The proposal comes as the city says it faces a significant shortage of parkland. According to the presentation, Yuba City's General Plan identifies a need for roughly 260 additional acres as the community grows. Wolffe said a larger regional facility could accommodate sports, recreation and community gatherings that the city's smaller neighborhood parks cannot.

Residents at Monday's meeting were divided into three groups and asked to identify what is working well in local parks, what is missing, their top three priorities and what a successful facility would look like five years after completion. Despite working separately, several common themes quickly developed. All three groups identified a desire for an indoor recreation complex or multipurpose gymnasium where sports, practices and other activities could take place away from extreme summer heat and weather. Additional athletic practice fields were another recurring request. Residents also discussed a fitness circuit or par course, an off-leash dog park, an amphitheater and inclusive recreational facilities for children and adults with disabilities.

Community members use scaled athletic-field cutouts to map out one possible vision for Yuba City’s proposed 60-acre recreation complex during an Aug. 17 workshop at the Yuba College Sutter Center. Residents brainstormed everything from additional sports fields and indoor recreation space to walking areas and other community amenities.

 

“We need the community's input to tell us, what are your values, what are the things that we're missing in this area, what are the things that you're leaving this area for to go do in other places that we could bring here,” Wolffe said.

Six workshops are planned, including virtual and in-person sessions continuing through October. Ideas gathered during the meetings will be refined into preliminary concepts, returned to the public for review and ultimately used to shape the city's grant application.

The discussion comes as the city prepares for the temporary closure of Sam Brannan Park, one of Yuba City's largest existing recreation areas. The city previously cited maintenance and security concerns at the park and reported that nine park maintenance employees are responsible for 17 city parks. That prompted questions Monday about how another large facility would be maintained.

“So, there's some unknowns with this because it is a large site,” Wolffe said. “If we were to get this, there's options for the city owning and maintaining it. There could be an operator that comes in and runs it privately, but we don't know yet.”

The proposed complex is being considered for an approximately 60-acre site currently outside Yuba City limits. Wolffe said the city is working with Sutter County and could eventually annex the property while exploring partnerships with the county and Yuba College.

“We see it as a regional benefit here,” Wolffe said. “I think eventually we'll annex this into the city, but have some sort of working agreement with the county and potentially the college to make the best situation for all three agencies.”

Former Yuba County Public Works Director Dan Peterson, who is assisting with the grant application, said he believes the project could be highly competitive. Peterson previously worked on Yuba County's 22-acre Friendship Park project in West Linda and said lessons from that effort can now be applied to Yuba City's proposal.

“I think personally, this has a really high probability of success,” Peterson said. “I think this project is going to be a winner.”

Peterson said other state grant programs could also be pursued if necessary, but one advantage of the current process is that residents are being involved before a design has been created.

“You've got a blank slate,” he told attendees. “So you, the members of the public, actually get to help lay this out.”

Additional community design workshops are scheduled for September and October. A workshop focused on preliminary design concepts will be held in person Sept. 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the Yuba College Sutter Center, Room 201, with an online session Sept. 16 at 6:30 p.m. A final workshop on the preferred design concept is scheduled for Oct. 13 in person and Oct. 14 online, both at 6:30 p.m.

Residents who cannot attend can provide input through the city's community visioning survey at https://bit.ly/YubaCityVisionSurvey. For questions, contact the city at (530) 822-4800 or [email protected].