Sunnyvale's Official Reply

A friend sent us the standard reply the city of Sunnyvale is sending in response to the emails they get about the concept of a sale/lease of the Civic Center. You can email the City Council at:  council@ci.sunnyvale.ca.us

Read their reply below but first our comments.

They say they are not selling or leasing the Civic Center.  That is true.  It is the "concept" they are considering we object to.  We don't want them to even think about it as an option.  Since it is the only option they are considering, it is the option they will likely go with.  Other options we and others have suggested such as renovation of existing space, renting new space, adding a wing or floor, fixing up a basement, they always dismiss as not practicable.  They have given no cost analysis of renovation or expansion or leasing of new space.  Nor have they said how much space is needed.

The "public-private partnership" they refer to would be a deal where the non-competitively chosen builder constructs the buildings the city wants and takes over the city land.  It might be a sale or lease.  Either way the trees and green space are gone.  You can look at the unfinished Downtown to see what Public-Private Partnerships have looked like in the past.

They are correct that the city council has not made a decision, or approved plans.  When they do it will be too late.  That is why we are telling them now that we don't want it even considered.  Now please read their official reply:

Permanent link here for bookmarking or sending:
http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2012/10/sunnyvales-official-reply.html

------------- Begin official reply -----------------

Dear (Name),

Thank you for your email and your interest in this topic. On July 31,
2012, City Council conducted a joint study with the City's Board of
Library Trustees. One of the agenda items was the future of the Civic
Center Campus (including the main library, City Hall, and the Public
Safety Administration building among others).

At the end of the joint session, Council directed staff to further
explore the concept of redeveloping the existing Civic Center Campus
buildings via a public/private partnership model, with the main
library relocated to the Community Center campus. Contrary to some
unofficial reports, there has been no decision by the City Council to
lease or sell any of the Civic Center grounds, nor are there any
approved plans to that effect.

Council's latest direction simply allows staff to further explore the
concept of a public-private partnership (which doesn't necessarily
mean selling any of the City's property), so that Council more fully
understands its options relative to addressing the needs of the Civic
Center's deteriorating facilities.

The best way to stay informed regarding this topic would be to check
the City's home web page http://sunnyvale.ca.gov/ and click on the
link "Future Library and Civic Center Facility Options" under the
heading "HOT TOPICS". Should you wish to discuss related matters,
please contact the City's Assistant City Manager, Robert Walker at
rwalker@ci.sunnyvale.ca.us or 730-7458.

Raiding the Park Dedication Fee

Permanent link for future reference: http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2012/10/raiding-park-dedication-fee.html

The issue is raiding the park dedication fee for maintenance instead of buying park land.  Normally the maintenance of parks comes out of the City's General Fund budget.  Acquiring new park land comes out of the Park Dedication Fee fund.  The latest proposal, which will likely be approved at the City Council meeting on October 30th, is to open up the Park Dedication Fee fund so up to 80% can be used for maintenance. (Update 3/15/2014:  This was defeated by the City Council largely due to Council Member Dave Whittum's analysis which showed that the amount that would come out of the park dedication fee would not be enough to provide the current level of park service).

The idea behind the fund is that as developers increase the density they should provide land (or money to buy land) so that the city can have new parks for the new residents.  The latest proposal is to use the park dedication fee for park maintenance with a minimum of 20% reserved for land acquisition.  There is no requirement that 80% be used for park maintenance but since the city is neglecting to fund the parks adequately, that maintenance will come out of the dedication fee fund.  Then the city can cut to zero the park maintenance portion coming out of the general fund budget.

So what will happen when developers aren't building as much and the fee doesn't provide enough for maintenance?  That will occur when times are tough, so the general fund will be under strain as well.  Since there will have been no provision for park maintenance in the general fund there will be no park maintenance in tough times.  Park maintenance staff will be laid off and the parks will be neglected.  The track record the city council has lately is that parks neglected for long enough eventually get sold.

The city document discussing this (in a not very clear way) is RTC 12-255, available at:
http://sunnyvale.ca.gov/Portals/0/Sunnyvale/CouncilReports/2012/12-255.pdf

Revenues have increased for the city so why raid the dedication fee fund?  The underlying reason for this is that CalPERS, the state and city pension fund, is significantly increasing what they call the unfunded liability requirements.  Whenever CalPERS fails to make a 7.5% return on their investments (they made 1.1% this last fiscal year ending in June) they require the city to make up the difference.  This number has been increasing rapidly and will consume about $30M this coming year out of a general fund budget of about $150M.

There is another budget number which is bigger (over $200M) but that includes a lot of money from outside sources like the federal govt. and is dedicated to certain things which the city has no control over.  The general fund is the fund that the city can use for whatever it wants.

Our Letter in the Sunnyvale Sun

Following is the text of our letter submitted to the editor and published in the Oct. 19, 2012 edition of the Sunnyvale Sun:

( Permanent link to this page for future reference: http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2012/10/our-letter-in-sunnyvale-sun.html )

------------- begin Letter to the Editor ----------

The Sunnyvale city council voted July 31, 2012 to consider a proposal to sell/lease 14 acres of wooded public buildings (including the library) of the Civic Center for commercial and residential development.  24 acres at this site are city-owned.  The area is bounded by El Camino Real, Mathilda Ave., Pastoria Ave. and Iowa Ave.  It is  the site of the present-day library, city hall, public safety dept., etc which would all be demolished to make way for commercial and housing development.  The area to be sold/leased would include the entire side facing El Camino and most of the sides on Mathilda and Pastoria leaving a shrunken little remnant in the center.

                                        

The idea is to raise money for a new library to be built at the Community Center on Remington, and a new city hall and public safety building. Developers have already been contacted and expressed interest.

We are in profound disagreement with the city council on this.  This is a very beautiful piece of land with over 80 half-century old, very tall, majestic redwoods and Canary Island pines.  There is a park-like area at the corner of El Camino Real and Mathilda with a walkway winding through these trees.  There are approximately 200 trees including magnolia, tulip, gingko and Chinese pistache.  Is there such a shortage of space for coffee shops, and boutiques elsewhere that we have to sell off these old trees and gardens to make room?

Parks and green spaces provide us with a quality of life which is becoming increasingly important and rare.  Trees are important in not just giving us tranquility, peace and a connection to nature but they also supply us with cleaner air and the very oxygen we breathe.  These trees would not survive commercial construction along El Camino Real.  We need to preserve this area and these wonderful trees for future generations.  This year the city has already decided to sell the Raynor Park Buildings (May 2012) and Murphy Park expansion spaces (August 2012) and now they are thinking of selling the Civic Center.

We question why our current library should be demolished.  There is a need for one or more branch libraries in Sunnyvale to provide reading and study areas closer to where people live. In that same July 31 meeting the library staff expressed preference for a branch library built at Lakewood to better serve the people of North Sunnyvale. We should listen to the professionals we employ to bring libraries to the people rather than destroying what we have to build monuments to political hubris.  Look at the downtown area to see where grandiose plans can lead!

There is a basement in the current library which could provide additional needed space or an addition could be considered.  Several communities across the US have joint school-public libraries for students to study and read after school and on weekends near their homes.  Santa Clara has a smaller area, and a smaller population yet they have two libraries and are building a third while we have only the one.

We have formed an initiative to inform the citizens of Sunnyvale of these plans.  The name of the initiative is Citizens for Parks and Green Spaces.  View our blog: http://cspgs.blogspot.com/. Join the discussion at OpenSpaceforSunnyvale@yahoogroups.com. To show support, please e-mail us at CSPGSinfo@yahoo.com so we can keep the city council informed of the number of residents in opposition to these plans.

Help us save Sunnyvale’s heritage for future generations.

Deborah Marks

Michael Goldman

Citizens for Sunnyvale Parks and Green Spaces

Photo Essay Tour (Pix)

Sunnyvale - Tree City, USA 

by Deborah Marks

Sunnyvale was named Tree City USA in 1989.  A flag waves in front of the city hall on Olive Ave. proudly proclaiming that Sunnyvale has been recognized as a city which values its trees.  We should do justice to that title by preserving the trees we have in the parks and green spaces of the city.

Part of the area which may be sold/leased in the future to a developer is the area around the city hall, along Mathilda and up to El Camino Real.  

Here there are at least 60 mature majestic, beautiful Canary Island pines and redwood trees 

Besides those trees there are mature and beautiful gingko, Chinese pistache, magnolia and tulip trees.  Should these trees…along with many others…be destroyed so that the site can be used commercially?

When one drives or walks east along El Camino it’s refreshing to see on the left-hand side the street lined with green from Pastoria/Hollenbeck Ave. to Mathilda Ave. 

At the corner of Mathilda and El Camino there is an inviting park with sidewalks winding through the pines and redwoods and benches to sit down on and rest in the cool shade of these half-century old trees.  

These trees are a treasure to the city and its residents and they should be treated with as much respect.

Proposed Plan

First - the Civic Center currently as presented by the city staff

Below is the City's proposed plan for the Civic Center (click on the photo for an enlarged image):

Below are two options being considered where the library might go at the Community Center at Remington Drive.  The first fills in the pond and existing green spaces for the library and paves over some remaining green spaces for a parking lot.  Destroy as much green space as possible seems to be the concept.

The second adds a multi-level parking structure:

(update 10/27/2012:  The above is from the City of Sunnyvale document available at:
http://sunnyvale.ca.gov/Portals/0/Sunnyvale/LIB/doc/Library%20Study%20Session%20Final%20073112rf.pdf )

More Tree Photos (Pix)

Some more photos of the Civic Center taken by Deborah Marks.  Note the last photo with a flag flying with the words "Tree City" on it!  (Click on the photo to see a bigger version.)

Latest version of CSPGS flyer:

Latest version of our flyer:

Perma link to here:

http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2012/10/latest-version-of-cspgs-flyer.html

Links to Information on Sale/Lease of Civic Center

Some links to the discussion of the sale or lease of the Civic Center property.

The city has a summary of the July 31, 2012 library study session here:
http://sunnyvale.ca.gov/Departments/CommunityDevelopment/FutureLibraryandCivicCenterFacilityOptions.aspx

Official minutes of July 31, 2012 meeting are here:
http://sunnyvale.ca.gov/Portals/0/Sunnyvale/CouncilReports/2012/cc-20120814-info2.pdf

(Update 10/10/2012:  I attended and want to add a few impressions.  One of the most surprising things was the total lack of discussion by the City Council.  CM Dave Whittum moved that the sale of other properties be considered instead of the Civic Center.  It was voted down without a word of discussion. The Head Librarian indicated that the library staff would prefer a branch library to a new main library.  No one on the CC commented on that remark.  The other surprise was that in 20 minutes of comments by the general public, not a single person made a positive comment on the proposal.  When I pointed out that the proposed new library would add only 20,000 square feet for a net cost of over $3,500/square foot vs. a new branch at under $1,000/sq. ft. the city staff just nodded).

The power point presentation given on the July 31, 2012 meeting is here as a PDF (Update 10/10/2012:  The full effect of the proposed Civic Center sale/lease is seen on page 21 of the PDF):

http://sunnyvale.ca.gov/Portals/0/Sunnyvale/LIB/doc/Library%20Study%20Session%20Final%20073112rf.pdf

Perma link to this blog post is:
http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2012/10/links-to-information-on-salelease-of.html

Alternatives to Sale or Lease of Civic Center (video)

At the Sunnyvale City Council meeting Oct. 2, 2012  Michael Goldman gave a brief discussion of the alternatives to the sale/lease of the Civic Center and the wisdom of trying to sell property now. (4 minutes)

Permalink for reference:
http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2012/10/alternatives-to-salelease-of-civic.html

Trees at the Civic Center (Pix)

Our guest contributor today is the trees.  Let them speak for themselves!

Thank you trees (and grass and flowers) for your comments.  Why the City Council wants to remove you is beyond us.

Permalink for future reference: http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2012/10/trees-at-civic-center-pix.htm

Deborah Marks Announces CSPGS (video)

Posted Monday, October 01, 2012

Our own Deborah Marks announces the group's formation and fields responses from the Sunnyvale City Council.  City Council members seem genuinely surprised that anyone is upset that they are considering selling/leasing the Civic Center.  The original for this is available for viewing or download at http://sunnyvale.ca.gov/CityGovernment/CityCouncil/CouncilMeetings/WatchCouncilMeetingsOnline.aspx
where Deborah's comments start at about the 51:18 minute point.



Perma-link to here for future reference::
http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2012/10/deborah-marks-announces-groups-formation.html