Delays Complicate Morning View Construction, But Carpenter is 'Undeterred'

We delivered flurries of Morning View updates during the first two weeks of March, but things got quiet during the past month. 

The video on the right is from the mid-March councilmeeting where Morning View CEO Carissa Carpenter announced that they had secured the 300+ acres needed to proceed with the film studio. At that point, several landowners who eventually agreed to sell were still holding out, according to Carpenter. In the end, Morning View agreed to sales with more than 500 acres worth of land. 

One month later, here's an update: 

Carpenter told Dixon Patch on Sunday that due to delays during the early phases of the project, the full studio will not likely be up and running by January 2015, which is when Morning View is set to open. That date is tied to a specific project, Carpenter said. This has made the planning a bit more complex. 

Among the delays that stalled the project were Measure N (which brought Morning View’s plans to a halt during last fall’s election season) and the process of finding the 300+ acres of land needed to begin the purchasing process. Several landowners held out and didn’t sign letters of intent until after Morning View reached agreements to buy other plots of land outside of Dixon in order to reach the 300-acre threshold. 

“There’s not enough time,” said Carpenter of the tightened window of time. “We don’t have enough months” between now and January, 2015.

The plan, Carpenter says, is to build the core stages of the studio so that they’re “still able to get the doors open” in time. The remainder of the construction would continue while filmmakers are on site and the studio is in use. That would likely require nighttime construction and creative planning. 

Certain other vendors may be secured to cover things like props and special effects during the first few months the studio is open, while the studio is being completed. 

City Manager Jim Lindley said on Friday afternoon that the deal is very close to being closed, but construction company Rudolph and Sletten is currently working on building schedules. Those schedules have changed as the schedule has tightened. They’re determining the “best way to get it done with maximum efficiency,” Lindley said.

“When escrow starts, the city will start,” said Lindley, who says that up to this point city staff hasn’t sunk a significant amount of hours into the project, because the bulk of the design work and construction planning currently sits on Morning View’s lap.

When that planning is finalized and escrow begins – which Carpenter expects to happen in the next few weeks -- the city is supposed to receive $100,000 from Morning View so that the entitlements process can begin.

That process will involve rezoning, augmenting the city’s general plan, doing off-site improvements and more. Lindley says they’ll likely have to hire consultants to help with parts of this process.

Although the delays have slowed Morning View down, Carpenter says they are not deterred in any way and that the studio will be up and running come January, 2015. Lindley is feeling good about the progress as well, and says Carpenter and her team are working hard to get the project done efficiently. 

“Morning View is within a hair's breadth of getting the deal closed,” he said. “When we get our reimbursement money, we’re off to the races.”

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