Yuba City’s water tower plaza nears completion with new arches

Under Yuba City’s historic water tower, something new is starting to take shape. Arches put in earlier this week are causing a chatter within the community, but there’s still more to come.

The long-awaited water tower plaza project is almost done.

“They’re amazing, I mean, take a look at ’em. They are welcoming to our downtown and they have been a complete social media buzz for a couple days here in our city,” said Dave Shaw, mayor of Yuba City.

Shaw says the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and engineers have already taken into account concerns surrounding its height.

“Rest assured, absolutely. Firetrucks, which is the biggest thing we have, trucks, it meets all the height requirements. We’re going to clear it, no problem. You watch these trucks going through,” he said.

“I was driving by this morning and I looked up and I couldn’t tell was that always there? I thought no, that looks brand new and it looks awesome,” said Jennifer, someone walking by.

The project is all funded through state grants, and just a few months ago, the city had to scale back the park’s plans due to rising inflation. But there’s good news.

“They made this project work, come in on budget. And we’re just ecstatic because, honestly, a few months ago, we didn’t think we were going to be able to do the playground equipment. It’s currently being installed right now,” said Shaw.

“At first, we were trying to be nimble and see what we could cost-engineer to pull out of the project. Fortunately, we got a local contractor on the job that wanted to donate a bit of their work,” said Yuba City Public Works Director Josh Wolffe.

Wolffe says it’s been an all-hands-on-deck project, even with some help from the community to make it happen.

“The idea behind the project was to create a community area to gather on Plumas Street. You have an amphitheatre over there, we have a Christmas tree over here,” he said.

The city planted a tree to grow with the community. Eventually, it’ll tower up to 75-feet-tall, becoming a permanent landmark for city holiday lighting.

“A little play area for the kids. It’s fenced in to keep them in, boulders behind it to keep cars from coming in. A lot of open space a beautiful mural,” said Wolffe.

“A lot of cool things going on there. But at the end of the day archway, welcome to our downtown. Here’s a park, here’s restaurants, here’s nightlife. Come experience Yuba City,” Shaw said.

The city will be holding a grand opening for the water tower plaza project within the next few weeks.