Before any hammers, shovels, and machinery ever begin to update the Sunnyvale Civic Center, the city is first drafting a modernization plan with ideas and vision statements.
The Sunnyvale City Council spent a portion of its May 19 meeting asking questions and expressing concerns related to parking, financing and community engagement as well as myriad other specifics related to the project. The civic center is home to city hall, the council chambers, city staff offices, the Sunnyvale Library and the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety.
At the meeting, the council outlined a vision statement for the project as well as project goals and a needs assessment.
Vision statement
The vision statement for the modernization includes serving, welcoming and leading the community.
Specifically, the civic center after modernization will aim to “serve the community by providing efficient, functional and flexible facilities to support innovative service delivery and sharing resources to support the community’s needs.”
The welcoming aspect will be accomplished by “reflecting the identity of Sunnyvale and creating an environment that inspires community pride, promotes civic engagement and offers a full range of indoor and outdoor services to accommodate our diverse community.”
The project will “lead the community by supporting participatory governance and being a model of fiscal and environmental sustainability.”
Success criteria
The council also adopted criteria for the project “to evaluate project alternatives once they are developed.”
Included are goals for sustainability, community engagement, costs and usability, accessibility and functionality of open space, among others.
Needs assessment
A needs assessment was developed in relation to aid in addressing space needs and service delivery for the community.
The assessment looked at city hall, the Sunnyvale Library, Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety amenities and the civic center site as a whole.
Within those subsets, needs related to meeting space, layout, parking, technology and storage were prominent among many other more specific needs.
Sunnyvale city staff recommended that the council adopt the vision statement, success criteria and needs assessment as a working draft. Staff will present a final draft after staff conducted more outreach with residents and community.
The council voted 6-1 in favor of the staff recommendation, with Councilman Pat Meyering dissenting.
The council initially agreed to take a closer look at modernization of the civic center in September 2014. In October, funds were appropriated for the project and discussions began.
In February 2015, the council kicked off a community engagement plan for the project that includes online surveys on the OpenCityHall website as well as community workshops, focus groups and interviews.
Meyering expressed concern at the May 19 meeting about the OpenCityHall survey, saying it was phrased in a way that solicited positive remarks rather than actual feedback, both positive and negative.
Councilman Glenn Hendricks, along with other members of council, stressed the importance of community involvement every step of the way.
“I think this is really key and important,” Hendricks said in relation to the success criteria. “I think we’re doing everything we can to try and reach out to the public to get as much input as possible. If there is a way to get more input I’d love to see that; we need to keep trying.”
Three community speakers voiced opinions about space allotment, additional meeting space and the new civic center being a “sacred space” for members of the community.
For more information about the civic center modernization project visit sunnyvale.ca.gov.
