Santa Clara County Hosts Public Hearing on Civic Center

From Santa Clara County:

The Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing for the community to provide feedback on a proposed ordinance that would allow the County of Santa Clara to move forward with development of the county’s Civic Center. Comments from the May 10 hearing at 9:30 a.m. will be considered at the Board of Supervisor’s meeting on May 24, when the board will take action on the proposed Master Development Agreement with private developer Lowe Enterprises.

The hearing, held at the County Government Center in the Board of Supervisors chambers (70 West Hedding St. in San Jose) will comprise the County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors, the County of Santa Clara Asset and Economic Development Representatives, facilities representatives as well as individuals and representatives of businesses and organizations interested in the development of the County’s Civic Center.

The hearing can also be viewed online.

County staff, in coordination with the office of Supervisor Cindy Chavez, hosted a public outreach meeting on March 30 to update the community about ongoing and upcoming actions related to the master planning of the county's Civic Center.

The Board of Supervisors has identified initial recommendations to help guide the master development agreement, which includes planning for public space on the Civic Center Campus of approximately 1.15 million square feet, constituting approximately 23 acres for public uses, leaving an estimated 17 acres of land for possible revenue-generating purposes (on land that the County would continue to own); planning for the demolition of the West Wing and connector and relocation of its occupants, the Office of the District Attorney, along with other law and justice administrative uses, to new buildings on the Richey site, the former Army Reserve located at the corner of San Pedro Street and Hedding Street; planning for potential relocation of the remainder of the County administrative uses (not including the Main Jail or the Courts) to the area north of Hedding St., leaving a single block south of Hedding for revenue-generating purposes (on land that the County would continue to own); further exploration for either redevelopment/modernization or replacement of the East Wing for continued public use or private use (depending on the adopted Campus site plan scenario) and the relocation of the Sheriff’s Office Emergency Vehicles Operations Center from the Richey site.

Further information is available through the county Civic Center web page.