Parents dropping off their little ones at the Boys & Girls Club on Piper Street this week for summer camp were distressed to find the building closed, a hand-scrawled sign on the door reading, “Boys & Girls Club Summer Camp is at Fitch Mtn. School,” with an address and phone number.
The reason is that the club is on the verge of a $16 million remodel that will completely alter the 77-year-old building, constructed two years after the club was founded by local citizens in 1946.
To be fair, the club did notify its “kiddos” and parents about the change in camp location, because the renovation of the Healdsburg Club had long been planned.
The club serves youth ages 6-18 from all communities, with approximately 125 youth attending daily. Its affordability and availability make it attractive, if not essential for working class families to continue to be stable and productive, to keep their jobs and keep their children safe.
To support the proposed renovation, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma-Marin state, “In addition to providing much needed repairs and updates to the Gym, the new replacement Clubhouse consolidates outdated and deteriorated activity rooms, storage, and support spaces. The refreshed facilities will provide accessible, safe, and healthy indoor environments to continue to serve Healdsburg’s youth for decades to come.”
Catching up with history
The current building, at 555 Piper St., has been partially remodeled a couple of times, with a gymnasium added in 1964. The current remodel plan is to reconstruct and expand the existing club.
The gymnasium portion will remain standing at its current location, but the building to the north of it will be completely demolished and rebuilt—expanded to add approximately 10,782 square feet by taking out the outbuilding used for teen services as well.
Will all that new space include more services for the area’s 200-plus 6-to-18-year-old children who use the club?
“Absolutely,” said Wendy Cline, the facility and administrative director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma-Marin. “The club will have an instructional kitchen, which is going to be state-of-the-art, a full instruction kitchen that will have multiple islands and safe cooktops for kiddos to use.”
The term “kiddos” is used frequently throughout the diverse and welcoming nonprofit education and recreation organization, friendly and casual yet refreshingly nonspecific.
“Our plan is to build an entire kitchen program there,” Cline continued. “In addition to that, we’ll have a STEM lab, a full dance room with gymnastic bars and a dance area with a small stage, and a teen center that will replace the modular unit at the facility.”
Clubs and education
Currently more than 200 of the 1,300 school-age kids in town are members of the Healdsburg Club. It is one of 40 clubs that are part of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma-Marin, a widespread network that provides services to approximately 11,000 children in the county.
These clubs provide more than kid-sitting services. “The Club and Healdsburg School District collaborate to identify the most crucial skills and objectives needed at every grade to best prepare youth for the future. Additional partners bring expertise and enriching programming to supplement the Club’s 200 enrichment programs,” reads the program narrative supplied by the clubs.
At the Healdsburg Club, the gym facilities are used by The Healdsburg School for its team sports.
During summer months many of the clubs are closed—their primary usage is during pre- and post-school hours. But the Healdsburg Club also offers a summer camp five days a week from June 9 – Aug. 1, from 8am to 5pm. Breakfast, lunch and snacks are available, as well as a variety of activities.
Supporting the vision
On April 22, the club presented its design review package to the City of Healdsburg’s Planning Commission. “We are incredibly grateful for the City’s enthusiastic support of our vision and design to build this clubhouse for our kids who need us most,” said Jennifer Weiss, the president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma-Marin. It was a sentiment Cline repeated when she discussed the club’s plans.
“I think there were overall completely positive comments about everything, from the look of it, to the fact that we’re really trying to keep some of the history of the building. I think that is really important to people who have been in Healdsburg for a long time,” Weiss added.
Keeping the gym more or less intact is part of the historic preservation that the club is keen on maintaining, which will include keeping wood fixtures and features that are in accordance with Healdsburg’s agricultural past. She described the gym ceiling as having “an absolutely beautiful redwood beamed arched ceiling,” which alone sounds worth preserving.
At the commission meeting the club received conditional approval, which allows it to move forward with the next phase, completing a comprehensive set of construction drawings. These include detailed plans for plumbing, mechanical, electrical and site infrastructure.
“We anticipate submitting the full construction package and our permit application to the City by the end of June,” Weiss said. “Once approved, we will be ready to break ground and begin construction.” That means construction could start as soon as this summer, while it’s expected to take 12-16 months to complete.
Little impact is expected to the surrounding residents or buildings, as the lot is large enough to allow for the tear-down and construction of the new club. But as with all such conditional-use projects, city requirements in parking, lighting, landscaping, signage and other city guidelines have to be addressed or met.
Celebrations
“As we move closer to breaking ground, we are in the early stages of planning a groundbreaking ceremony that will bring together our kids, families, staff and the community to celebrate this momentous occasion,” Weiss said.
A more immediate and informal celebration is planned for next Thursday, June 19, at 4:30pm—a “tailgate party” with burgers and hot dogs and other refreshments. It will be held at the now-disused club at 555 Piper St., in conjunction with the Prune Packers baseball game at Rec Park at 6pm that evening. The game will highlight the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma-Marin, and include a “first pitch” by a selected club member.
Both Cline, the facilities director, and Chief Executive Officer Weiss were excited by the prospect of the remodel. “Our amazing team is working quickly to bring this new incredible state-of-the-art clubhouse to our deserving kids and community,” Cline said. “This marks a significant step toward making our long-held dream a reality, creating a space where kids can thrive.”
Information on the Boys & Girls Club of Sonoma-Marin and local summer programs is available at bgccsc.org.
