Cloverdale advances plan for downtown health center, skate park, police station

A prominent piece of downtown property in Cloverdale that’s sat empty for years could serve as the site for three pressing community needs - a new police station, a youth skate park and a bigger health clinic.

The City Council this week approved a conceptual plan for the 5 acres south of the Citrus Fairgrounds that includes all those elements, along with retail and office space.

“This is probably one of the biggest projects that Cloverdale has ever faced,” Mayor Mary Anne Brigham said.

The site is one of the first things motorists see when they get off Highway 101 at the downtown exit.

Councilwoman Carol Russell called it “a once-in-a-lifetime piece of property. We’ve got to do this right.”

The city bought the land, known as Thyme Square, seven years ago from a struggling developer whose plans for a supermarket, retail space and housing fell through.

The council lists development of the site as one of its top goals and now has given tentative approval for several facets of it to go forward, including Alexander Valley Healthcare’s plan to build a $16 million “wellness center” there.

The only primary care provider between Healdsburg and Ukiah, Alexander Valley Healthcare has outgrown its current location and is likely to be the first building constructed on the Thyme Square lot.

A police station could follow, depending on whether grant funding comes through for the roughly $13 million, 16,000-square-foot building intended to replace the current cramped, antiquated station with seismic safety issues.

And skate park boosters are excited that after many years of trying to find a spot, there finally appears to be widespread support for having it at Thyme Square.

A group of children and their parents took turns at this week’s meeting urging the City Council to approve the park, saying kids have few places other than parking lots to skate, or must go to skate parks in Healdsburg, Ukiah or Santa Rosa.

“It’s in the plan. Hopefully everything’s going to work out to everyone’s satisfaction,” Brigham told skate park boosters.

Shawn Bovee, a planning commissioner and prime proponent for a skate park, said one preliminary cost estimate to build it was $220,000, not including land cost.

Raising the needed funds could be a challenge, but “folks in Cloverdale have been after a skate park for damn near 20 years,” he said. “I’m pretty determined one way or another to get us a skate park.”

As far as any shopping opportunities, ?25,000 square feet is set aside for a two-story combined retail office building. City Manager Paul Cayler said it is not enough space for a major retailer, but a boutique hotel might be acceptable. At one point, city officials were planning for low- and moderate-income housing as a component of Thyme Square. But now they are eyeing more affordable housing at “Cherry Creek Village,” a transitional housing site that was formerly a motel, located farther south along Cloverdale Boulevard.

Because the city used state redevelopment and housing funds to buy Thyme Square, any sale proceeds of the land for other purposes has to be reinvested in affordable housing.

A separate project is under construction adjacent to Thyme Square, Cloverdale Family Apartments, a 32-unit affordable project by Corporation for Better Housing.

It could be awhile before any dirt gets moved on the Thyme Square site, but the medical center appears to have the best chance of breaking ground the soonest.

Alexander Valley Healthcare CEO Deborah Howell said the plans call for a three-story, 38,000-square-foot building that will include primary care, alternative wellness programs, dental and oral health care, as well as a demonstration kitchen.

The organization has enough money to buy the land, and a federal subsidy to build a small portion of the project, but still needs to secure additional grants to make the project a reality.

“We’re looking at maybe two, two and a half years before we have a finished building with a best-case scenario.” Howell said.

Alexander Valley Healthcare has been in Cloverdale since 1994 and steadily grown, serving patients on Medicare and ?Medi-Cal, private insurance and the uninsured.

The number of patients has grown by 20 percent in the past two years, Howell said, with the health center now tallying more than 28,000 patient visits per year.

“It’s pretty crowded,” she said of the current location, adding there is no room to hire more physicians or staff to accommodate the increasing patient load.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 707-521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com.