Final Report Now Available
Here are the results of our 2015 Community Outreach Process:
How will You Shape Its Future?
Silicon Valley is a globally recognized region known for innovation, creativity and leading edge services and products. As the Heart of Silicon Valley, the City of Sunnyvale serves the residents and businesses that help the region grow and thrive. In stark contrast to the Valley's iconic image, businesses and buildings, stands the Sunnyvale Civic Center. The City's 1960s-era facilities where customers come for service—such as the City Hall, Library and Permit Center—are outdated, overcrowded and built to serve a population a third the size of today's. There have been repeated efforts over the years to determine how to update the facilities, but decisions have been deferred that can no longer wait.
During a strategic planning session on September 2, 2014, the City Council discussed the serious need to either renovate or replace the facilities and gave direction for City staff to develop a community engagement plan. They felt strongly that the Sunnyvale Civic Center needs to reflect the community's vision, effectively serve the public and represent a positive image of the City. We now have a tremendous opportunity to envision a campus that not only markedly improves the way we deliver services to our customers but also becomes a source of pride as a community asset and gathering place.
View the results of our Community Workshops.
COMMUNITY GATHERING SPACE
The Civic Center land area is almost 25 acres but much of it is used inefficiently for single story buildings and surface parking.
The modernization project would consider ways to use the site more efficiently. For example, the current campus includes large landscaped areas around each of the buildings. While this does give the campus an open feel, much of the area is unusable lawn that consumes large quantities of water. In 2013, the Civic Center used six million gallons of water for irrigation.
EFFICIENT USE OF SPACE
Visitors to City Hall's One-Stop Permit Center have increased by 21 percent over the past five years. The current space lacks adequate seating for guests, counter space for plans and technology resources to expedite service.
The current campus has seven separate parking lots - some heavily used while others sit idle. We've also simply outgrown many facilities such as this example of our existing Public Safety evidence storage room.
ENERGY EFFICIENT & SUSTAINABLE
Several of the outdated buildings at Sunnyvale's Civic Center lack even basic green building features such as double-paned windows. Five of the City's top ten power users are buildiings at the Civic Center. In 2013, the average cost of electricitgy for the five largest buildings at the Civic Center totaled more than $48,000 per month. A modernized Civic Center would include green building technologies to reduce energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and operating costs.