Feb. 21—The Yuba City City Council unanimously approved the authorization of Mayor Shon Harris to execute documents for Homekey 3 grant funds, which were recently awarded to the city and Habitat for Humanity Yuba-Sutter for the affordable housing project Merriment Village.

The California Department of Housing and Community Development will distribute over $24 million on March 29 to the city and Habitat for Humanity for the first phase of construction for the 217-unit development. With an overall cost of around $75 million, Merriment Village will be located at 428 North Walton Ave. and will primarily serve elderly residents, retired veterans and families who have been displaced due to the rising costs of rent and housing.

According to Housing and Community Development, approximately $37 million in Homekey grant funding was available to the Sacramento region.

In May 2023, the city council adopted a resolution authorizing a joint application with Habitat for Humanity to apply for Homekey 3 funds. After reviewing the application, Housing and Community Development has requested a modification to the resolution allowing Harris to execute the application and Homekey documents.

The resolution previously authorized City Manager Diana Langley to execute the documents, but the state department indicated that unless the city has an ordinance in place to allow this, the mayor must execute the documents. Yuba City does not have such an ordinance in place, so staff has requested that the previous resolution be repealed so the city council can adopt a new resolution allowing Harris to approve these documents.

“The city is very excited with the partnership with Habitat,” Langley said previously. “It was a great collaborative effort with Councilmen Shon Harris and Marc Boomgaarden to identify a site and then work together to develop the Merriment Village apartments which involved quite a bit of city staff and the expansive team that they (Habitat) brought together.”

Phase One of the multi-phase project will focus on construction of a four-story, 79-unit building fronting Walton Avenue along with all necessary infrastructure improvements including roadways, parking, curbs and gutters, utilities and four trash enclosures, the Appeal previously reported. Upon its completion, Merriment Village will feature five multi-family buildings, a clubhouse, and a fitness and multipurpose building with an approximate density of 28 dwelling units per acre.

According to Habitat for Humanity Yuba-Sutter CEO Joseph Hale, Phase One will cost approximately $31 million, but local match funds and commitments will help facilitate the project alongside Homekey funds.

Habitat for Humanity is in the process of finalizing designs for Merriment Village and coordinating construction, but per the grant agreement, the organization has approximately 15 months to get everything finalized, Hale said. He said the goal was to have construction of Phase One completed by December.

“The young families, the seniors, the people with disabilities, the veterans, the people who are going to be served in this process are going to have a whole new access to quality of life,” said Habitat’s Chief Operating Officer John Nicoletti. “We’re really pleased and really proud to be a part of this community.”

Shanghai Garden playground upgrade

Also on Tuesday, the Yuba City City Council unanimously approved to upgrade aging, damaged playground equipment at Shanghai Garden Park, awarding a construction contract to BIC Burke Company to carry out installation.

In August 2023, two residents of the Shanghai Garden park neighborhood spoke to the council about multiple pieces of playground equipment that were damaged, worn out and unsafe to use. Staff was directed to seek options for replacing the equipment and found that the average lifespan for playground structures is 15-20 years. The Shanghai Garden Park playground is currently 24 years old, the city said.

City staff presented three options for replacing the playground in September last year. Option one was to remove the children’s playset aged 5-12, refurbish the age 2-5 playset and program funds to replace both sets as they become available. Option two was to use existing funds from the annual playground replacement account ($130,000) to order and replace the most worn playground parts.

The city council ultimately directed staff to pursue the third option: remove the 5-12 aged playground immediately, reprogram funds from the Department of Parks and Recreation’s operational account and unspent funds from Didar S. Bains Park to the Annual Playground Replacement account.

City staff also held a community meeting for Shanghai Garden residents to present options for upgraded equipment, the most popular of which was provided by BCI Burke. Yuba City Parks and Recreation Department later presented the same options to the city Parks Commission, which also named the BCI Burke equipment as its preferred option.

The city council approved a $258,940 construction contract to the company for delivery and installation of a new playground. Community Services Director Ann Gillen hopes to “move quickly” with replacing the Shanghai Garden playground, but will not have a clear timeline until the equipment order is placed.

“Once we get the approval, we can order the equipment. Then we’ll have the timeline for when the equipment is going to be here. As soon as we get good weather, we’re hoping to move quickly. We can’t say with the weather, but we hope to have (installation) by May,” Gillen said.