Serving students with autism and learning differences since 2000, Anova’s original Santa Rosa campus was destroyed in the 2017 Tubbs Fire and for years the school operated in a temporary facility with portable classrooms. Anova was last of the schools destroyed in the Tubbs Fire to rebuild, and the completion of this project marks an important milestone in Sonoma County’s recovery from the disaster.

The all-new campus features two 20,000-square-foot classroom buildings, turf field and track, outdoor pavilions, and a sensory playground, and expands the school’s capacity to serve up to 200 students. Brelje & Race contributed permitting and entitlements, civil design services and land surveying for the new campus. Civil site design included grading, drainage, erosion control, wet utilities, and accessible path of travel. Careful site planning leveraged existing improvements to the project site and preserved heritage trees.

The rebuild was made possible by the many generous donors who have contributed to the school’s capital campaign, most notably local philanthropists Bill and Cindy Gallaher of the Gallaher Companies who arranged a major construction loan on favorable terms and donated in-kind project management, architecture, design, and landscaping. Airport Business Center was also a major contributor to the project. The campus opened to students at the start of the year and Anova hopes it will serve as a national model for educational and behavioral innovation.