Sunnyvale Mayor Jim Griffith asked residents at a recent community workshop for candid opinions about the civic center modernization project, and they didn’t hold back.
More than a dozen of the 60 or so people who attended the July 25 meeting spoke, and most of them took the city to task for various reasons. Some accused the city of feigning interest in residents’ opinions while others questioned the need to do an extensive overhaul, and a few asked where the money would come from.
Though city staff and Pamela Anderson-Brulé, president and co-founder of Anderson Brulé Architects, Inc., emphasized that nothing is set in stone and they were there to listen, some attendees remained skeptical.
“I feel everything is predetermined by the city and this architectural firm,” said Laurel Ashcraft. “I feel that these meetings are due diligence, that they have to have community meetings. I’m a nurse so I give up my valuable time, and I feel like it really doesn’t matter.”
Other speakers said they felt misled about the purported intent of the meeting and what was actually addressed.
“What’s going to happen to the land?” asked Sunnyvale resident Deborah Marks. “It was supposed to be talked about [at this meeting] and now it seems like they’re not going to do it. It feels like they’re avoiding the issues–what people want to talk about, what they’ve come for, what they’re upset about.”
Assistant city manager Kent Steffens insisted staff and the architect are doing their best to address residents’ concerns while proceeding with the project scoping.
“Certainly there are themes in how outdoor space is used, and people really do value the trees that are at the campus now,” Steffens said. “They value open space, and I think we need to really be thoughtful about how we plan the campus to preserve things people like about it.”
Although city officials have been interested in updating the 25-acre civic center for years, serious discussions didn’t begin until the city council on Sept. 2 directed staff to develop a plan for obtaining public feedback. The plan was approved by the council in February of this year.
Three buildings at the civic center were constructed at different times, with the library going up 1960, city hall in 1968 and the Department of Public Safety in 1985. The buildings have struggled to fully accommodate the needs of a growing city, according to officials.
As far as the city is concerned, options include leaving the buildings as they are, renovating and expanding them, or completely replacing them.
Some speakers said the civic center buildings should be left alone while others indicated that any new buildings should be limited in height.
On occasion some of the attendees interrupted the presentation to signal their doubts.
“I’m kind of disgusted with what is going on,” said one man who identified himself as a 50-year Sunnyvale resident. “I see a lot of people here that are really disappointed with what is going on, and the process is not very open. We’re going about this in a haphazard way. In Sunnyvale, I don’t see a clear leadership. We have to look at our council people and we need to hold them responsible. This is your public land. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever, you’re never going to get it back.”
All council members except Pat Meyering and David Whittum attended the meeting.
The workshop at the city’s community center was structured so residents could walk around to five stations displaying different aspects of the project and then provide their feedback or advice.
A sixth station was added for “general concerns” at the request of attendees.
This method “is kind of guiding the discussion in the way they want to,” Marks said. “We thought this was supposed to be open discussion of the citizens about their civic center, but it’s being so channeled that you can hardly give your own opinion about it.”
A few speakers raised concerns about the costs of renovating or replacing the civic center.
“Renovate as critically necessary; that’s what I do to my home. These aren’t the times to spend this kind of money,” Ashcraft said. “The underlying fact is they want to sell city land to finance this, and they are not talking about it. I think the city council should be held responsible for this. They should listen to the citizens.”
Misuk Park, who chairs the city’s arts commission, said the city should provide cost estimates for the options to be considered.
“I’d like to see the city maximize the value on every single thing and make the financial case for it so that the public would get different scenarios and say, ‘Oh, I like this option the best because it is the best value for what you get,’ ” she said.
Anderson-Brulé reminded everyone that the community workshops are designed to gather input from residents, not make final decisions.
“We will look at phasing strategies. You want a long-term plan that says where are we going in the future. You also need to know what is our first priority, what is our second priority,” she said. “And it is included within our thinking to understand that as we move into the [next steps]. In all of these things, it’s not that anything is decided, it’s that we’re testing multiple things about multiple scenarios.”
On Aug. 11 at 5:30 p.m., the city council is scheduled to hear a presentation and update on space design and site planning alternatives based on information gathered from the public and from studies thus far.
Once a date for the third community workshop has been set, it will be posted on the website at civiccenter.insunnyvale.com.
