The Civic Center, located at 1500 Warburton Ave., is the administrative core for the City of Santa Clara and is currently home for City Hall and several satellite office buildings, landscaped areas, a public plaza as well as public parking. Most of the buildings in the Civic Center were built in the 1960s when the workforce and residential population were much smaller.

As the population of the community has grown, so has the demand for City services and the City’s office space needs. Managing this growth has been challenging and any new attempts to reimagine the office spaces to accommodate more staff and services are now blocked by the confines of the existing building shells.

Community Meetings

The City of Santa Clara invites the public to a community meeting to discuss the Civic Center Concept Plan and Utility Building Project. The purpose of this meeting is to engage our community and gather input to help shape future development projects.

Background

For over 20 years, Silicon Valley Power has been leasing office building space and is currently leasing at a business park along Martin Avenue housing SVP’s Resources, Customer Service & Marketing divisions, including some of the Capital Projects Engineering personnel while the Administration and Customer Development Engineering services division occupy space in City Hall. 
  
On June 21, 2016, the City Council approved the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) project budget that included appropriations for a new Silicon Valley Power Utility Building. The funds are used to design and prepare for a new utility center using green-building technology that will be capable of housing both the Electric and Water & Sewer Utilities Departments.

The benefits of a new utility center include eliminating offsite leases and increasing lease payments, making space available in City Hall for other uses, and creating appropriate work spaces and consolidating personnel from multiple work sites for increased work efficiencies. 

On Jan. 31 and Feb 1, 2019, the City Council and staff held Operational and Strategic Priority Setting Sessions. The City Manager reported that, included in the list of public facilities and other infrastructure projects that are known to be unfunded or underfunded are 1) the New Utilities Building and Civic Center Campus, and 2) Civic Center Repairs. These needs, along with all the other unfunded projects and infrastructure, are part of the City’s work in the short- and long-term and require dedicated capacity to develop realistic work plans.