By Craig Lazzeretti

Assistant managing editor

(Tuesday, July 12) A town hall workshop will be held Thursday, July 14, in the Donner Room at the Event Center to give residents a chance to learn and ask questions about the Facilities Master Plan before it is adopted by the GRF Board, potentially later this month.

The meeting is scheduled from 1 to 2 p.m., with Director of Resident Services Jeff Matheson providing a PowerPoint presentation of the 10-year road map of major Rossmoor capital projects.

The meeting also will be available on Zoom: https://rossmoor.zoom.us/j/84395945283?pwd=aStSRkR3U01OSmducndQTjRFSnFaZz09 (Passcode: 563363; Meeting ID: 843 9594 5283) And by phone by calling one of these numbers: 1-669-900-6833, 1-669-444-9171, 1-346-248-7799, 1-253-215-8782, 1-312-626-6799, 1-646-931-3860, 1-929-205-6099 and 1-301-715-8592.

The draft plan can be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/25ez65sb

“The Facilities Master Plan is an important planning document for the GRF Board and committees,” Matheson said. “It outlines major project expenditures and funding needed to accomplish goals for facility development over the next 10 years.”

The GRF Planning Committee voted unanimously June 23 to recommend that the Board approve a draft Facilities Master Plan, including projects costing an estimated $56 million.

GRF has been working for the past year with Berkeley firm ELS Architecture and Urban Design to develop the plan for large-scale projects, based largely on the money available to pay for them.

A major part of that process was reaching out to Rossmoor residents to hear their priorities for major community projects. That outreach has included focus groups, a community survey and several presentations to the GRF Board and its committees.

GRB Board member Leanne Hamaji, who is chair of the Planning Committee, said she thought it important to hold a town hall before the Board approves the draft master plan “to increase awareness of the project plans, priorities and limitations projected for the next 10 years.” She also thanked Matheson and GRF Chief Financial Officer Joel Lesser for their work helping the committee and Board craft the plan.

“It was a major undertaking,” she said.

The projects proposed in the plan are divided into a timeline of four groups: immediate (zero to two years); near term (three to six years); pipeline projects currently in progress; and smaller projects covered by the yearly maintenance budget. At $33.3 million, the pipeline projects constitute the lion’s share of the $56 million in funding, with selected projects in the immediate and near terms totaling $21.6 million and the maintenance projects adding an additional $1.2 million.

The largest pipeline project is the Gateway building replacement at $11.9 million; the largest immediate-term project is a new pickleball facility ($1.2 million), and biggest-ticket near-term project is the Mutual Operations Department (MOD) facility replacement at $18.9 million.

The plan also allocates $11.1 million in project costs to a wish list category in the event additional funds become available.

Residents unable to attend Thursday’s town hall can contact Matheson with comments or questions at jmatheson@rossmoor.com or 1-925-988-7628, or contact the Planning Committee at grb@rossmoor.com