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::: COMMUNITY NEWS
This outline of the stage cover, drawn to scale for RanchoMurieta.com, helped the Architectural Review Committee come to its decision. Committee approves proposed cover for Clementia stage Published
Friday, June 17, 2005 A plan to put a 24-foot-high cover over the Lake Clementia Amphitheater stage passed its first test Thursday, when the Rancho Murieta Association Architectural Review Committee approved the design concept despite expressing some reservations. The project is expected to be reviewed by the RMA board at its July 19 meeting. Entertainment, Theatre and Culture for Rancho Murieta proposed the project. The nonprofit, volunteer group is in its fourth year of providing concerts for the community at the amphitheater and has found that many of the bigger acts it wants to book specify a covered stage in their contracts. ETC President Peggie Miller and resident Randy Jenco, who’s directing the project on a volunteer basis, attended the ARC meeting. Jenco presented two drawings showing an amended design for the stage cover that replaces a gable roof with a slightly sloped roof reminiscent of the park’s covered patio structures. The plans call for six 24-foot concrete columns, each 16 inches in diameter (down from 24 inches, in the earlier plan), to support a roof structure of laminated wood beams about two feet wide. A durable fabric cover that’s available in various colors would cover the structure.
The amphitheater stage cover is a new type of project for Jenco, who builds bridges for a living. He has often contributed materials and labor for community projects, including construction of the ball fields at Stonehouse Park. Residents Bob Kjome and Chris Bobo are working with him on this volunteer effort. The value of the project is estimated at $100,000. Jenco said he began working on the plans with ETC about six months ago. He developed the design with Steve Hart, one of the founding members of ETC, using a catalogue of pre-fabricated stage covers as a reference. Hart was not present at Thursday’s meeting. Jenco said Hart specified the height of the columns and Miller said the height was related to sight line considerations and acoustical needs. No stage cover was envisioned five years ago, when Operating Engineers trainees and the RMA constructed the amphitheater to take advantage of a natural depression along the shoreline. “That venue is so nice because you can look across the lake,” remarked RMA President Paul Gumbinger before the meeting. The amphitheater stage measures 50 feet wide and 37 feet deep. To provide some sense of the height of the proposed structure, RMA Architectural Manager Mark Parsons said the structure would be more than eight feet taller than the elevation of the amphitheater, which he said drops about 16 feet from the service road down to the stage. Gumbinger, an architect who serves on the ARC, has publicly expressed concern about the massive cover and asked for detailed drawings that would provide a better idea of how the structure would look on the site. At Thursday’s meeting, in addition to the two drawings Jenco provided, the committee was given print-outs of the picture that appears with this article. In the picture, a scale drawing of the stage cover is superimposed on a photo of the amphitheater stage. Gumbinger termed it “a big help” and recommended that Jenco make larger copies of the picture available to the RMA board before the July meeting. “You need to sell this,” he told Jenco. The depiction seems to support Miller’s and Jenco’s characterization of the structure as “very open” and thus less visually intrusive. Jenco addressed Gumbinger’s concerns about maintaining the structure, which will be the RMA’s responsibility. The laminated beams will be treated to resist decay and will not require staining or painting, he said. Gumbinger was also concerned that the design could change once it’s reviewed by an engineer for structural integrity. “I think we’re going to end up with exactly what we’re looking at,” said Jenco, although he suggested the committee approve the conceptual design only. Then, after the plans are engineered, the project would come back to the committee for final review and acceptance. Miller said ETC “was helping with” the engineering costs and didn’t want to proceed with the engineering until the design was approved by the RMA and the Parks Committee. The project will also require a county building permit, Jenco said.
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