Pine Valley Pavilion resurrection anticipated

Approximately five years ago the wood pavilion at Pine Val­ley County Park was removed due to its poor condition. A new pavilion is expected within the next year.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 Feb. 27 to authorize a contract to provide a new pavilion. The action au­thorized the director of the county’s Department of Purchasing and Contracting to advertise and award a construction contract and to take any other necessary actions with respect to the new pavilion, designated the director of the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation as the county officer responsible for administering the contract, appropriated $85,000 of Park Land Dedication Ordinance funding for the project, and found the project categorically exempt from California Environmental Quality Act review.

Pine Valley Park is a 17-acre facility off of Old Highway 80. The park has a synthetic turf sports field for soccer and base­ball, a tennis court, a basketball court, horseshoe pits, a tot lot, a playground, picnic tables, restroom facilities, parking, and a ranger station. The Pine Valley Days community event is held each summer at the park.

Before it was removed the wooden picnic pavilion was a staging area for large events and provided space for food service as well as shade. The Department of Parks and Recreation worked with the community on a design for a new shade pavilion which can be used on a year-round basis. Although the community preferred a wooden structure to simulate a historic appearance, the risk of fire led to a design in which the pavilion will use simulated wood made of concrete. The concrete will not only be fire-resistant but also weather-resistant and will have a longer life than a wooden pavilion. The pavilion which will measure 20 feet by 30 feet will have the appearance of logs.

The work will also include concrete log benches and a railing, a metal roof, and a walkway meeting current Americans with Disabilities Act stan­dards. The existing cracked concrete slab will be demolished and replaced by a new concrete pad. Electrical system improvements will also be part of the work for the new pavilion.

The county’s Park Land Dedication Ordinance provides for the collection of fees from develop­ers to fund park improvements in the area of the development has been revised. Fees collected for development within a park planning area must be spent within that park planning area. Each coun­ty supervisor has an annual $2 million discretion­ary Neighborhood Reinvestment Program bud­get to provide grants to non-profit organizations for the furtherance of public purposes at the re­gional and community levels, and $225,000 of that money was previously earmarked from Supervi­sor Dianne Jacob’s budget for the pavilion and in­cluded in the 2018-19 budget appropriations. The estimated $260,000 construction cost includes contingency funding, and the other $50,000 will be used for design, survey, environmental moni­toring, inspection, construction management, and project administration expenses.

Construction on the new pavilion is expected to begin this summer and be complete during the next winter.

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