Woodbridge Irrigation opens new office

An imposing brick building encircled by black fencing has been growing on Lower Sacramento Road in Woodbridge. It's the new office for the Woodbridge Irrigation District. District staff are still unpacking and sweeping up the last of the construction dust, but the project is complete.

The new office blends Italian and and Spanish styling with a sense of Woodbridge history, and puts district operations right next door to the facilities they manage.

It cost $1 million to build, but the district didn't borrow a cent to pay for it.

"It's bought and paid for," said district manager Andy Christensen proudly. "Now we have a place to convey our rich history. We couldn't do it in the old building."

The district has been in a constant state of construction since Christensen joined them in 1996. Between building the new dam, the fish screen, the fish ladder and now this new building, there seemed to be no end to the projects. But now they are all complete, and the district can turn its attention to improving canals and pipelines in the field.

District staff spent two years planning the building and lining up permits. Designers were keen for the new structure to blend in with other brick buildings on Lower Sacramento Road, such as Cactus Mexican Dining and Woodbridge Crossing.

"We didn't want something ultra-modern," said Christensen.

Spanish and Italian influences are present in the sandy tile floors, the marble counter and open, airy layout.

On the left in the main hallways is a lighted display case full of historical Woodbridge artifacts. It holds rusty mining equipment, photographs of women walking on the 1891 dam and a water level recorder that uses a clock mechanism to mark the change in water level at the dam for a week at a time.

The case is bordered with beams dredged up from 25 feet below the riverbed. District staff ran into the 16 foot beams when they excavated that portion of the river to build the fish screen in 2008. They were the support piles for the 1891 dam. Now the beams are dotted with replica square iron bolts designed to match those used in the original Woodbridge Dam.

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Woodbridge Irrigation opens new office