FAQs - Civic Center Buildings​​
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Are any of Windsor’s Civic Center buildings on the verge of collapse? According to Council member Debora Fudge, in the event of a major earthquake the walls of the buildings would fall in and the roofs would collapse. She has made this claim several times, most recently at the June 1, 2022 Council meeting, mentioning an informal evaluation conducted by the previous building inspector. She and Mayor Sam Salmon, who have each served for over 25 years, should have insight into how well the buildings have been maintained since 1996. However, at the June 1 meeting the two disagreed on the current condition of the buildings.
See: Video of the June 1, 2022 Council Meeting, item 13.2
Their dispute appears to confirm that in 2016 the Council moved ahead with the Civic Center planning study without obtaining professional building condition assessments of the existing facilities. The result of a public records (CPRA) request for any information on the safety of the buildings also confirms that there are no existing reports.
See: Response to the CPRA request
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So what do we know about the current condition of the Huerta Gym, Town Hall, Police Station and WUSD offices? Very little. According to an article in the March 17, 1994 Press Democrat, the Town’s acquisition of the property from Santa Rosa Junior College for a new civic center complex was contingent on seismic studies and toxic clearance. The Town bought the complex for $3 million and spent an additional $3 million on renovations. Presumably the buildings were brought up to code at that time.
See:
Windsor to Buy $3 Million Complex
Windsor converting Eagan Center for Civics 9-21-1994
New Digs for City, School Offices 2-20-1996
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What about the Library? The Windsor Regional Library is the newest of the existing facilities. It was constructed in 1990 to house the Water District offices and after incorporation in 1992 it served as the Town Hall. It was remodeled to house the library, which opened in 1996, after the Town offices were moved to their current location.
In 2016 the Sonoma County Library conducted a thorough review of all the libraries in the system. The Windsor Regional Library was found to be in good condition, with only a few small changes recommended. The full report did mention that the library lacked a teen room.
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In April 2022 the Sonoma County Library published a new Facilities Master Plan. The section regarding the Windsor Regional Library assumed that the library “will need to relocate as its site on the Town Green is scheduled to be redeveloped for a hotel.” Apparently the few stakeholders consulted for the revision presented the RGC project as a done deal rather than acknowledge any community opposition or the uncertainty of the project moving forward.
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After receiving complaints from Windsor residents, the Sonoma County Library Commission removed the item to approve the plan from their August 2022 agenda, stating that “circumstances have changed in Windsor.” The report was subsequently revised to remove the references to the hotel project and approved at the September commission meeting.
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See:
2016 Sonoma County Library Facilities Master Plan Windsor summary
Complete 2016 Sonoma County Library Facilities Master Plan
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2022 Sonoma County Library Facilities Master Plan (not approved)
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Revised 2022 Sonoma County Library Facilities Master Plan (approved)
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Even if the Civic Center buildings are structurally sound, aren’t they just too small? Again, we know very little. It appears that in 2016 the Town moved forward on the planning study that became the 2017 Visioning Plan without conducting thorough space needs assessments. An assessment was conducted in late 2019, when the Town was already working with The Robert Green Company (RGC).
See: Space planning memo prepared for the February 12, 2020 Town Council meeting
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Can the Town afford to improve the Civic Center area without the revenue that the RGC project would have generated? We don’t know how much revenue the RGC project might have generated, and we don’t know the cost of any options for upgrading the Civic Center area other than the ones presented by RGC. The preliminary financial analysis of the project concluded that only Option C, which privatized the entire current Civic Center area, would generate enough revenue to fund the construction of a new civic building on the tank farm site. The analysis was based on the assumption that that the RGC project would bring in revenues consistent with other luxury projects in Wine Country.
See: Keyser Marston financial analysis of luxury resort
However, when Robert Green requested another extension of the ENA in December 2021, he denied that he had ever proposed a luxury project.
See: Council meeting video, December 1, 2021, item 12.2
The proposed project depended on many pieces coming together, including the financing, the fuel tank farm site cleanup and acquisition, ground lease agreements, and the transfer of public land to RGC. In addition, the proposed transfer did not appear to take the requirements of the California Surplus Land Act (SLA) into consideration.
See: California Surplus Land Act
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Without the RGC project, wouldn’t we need some sort of tax increase to fund new civic buildings? It would depend on what improvements were actually needed, and whether there are any alternative sources of funding available. Without knowing the true condition of the existing buildings or the space requirements, we can’t estimate the potential cost. We do know that other communities have been able to finance civic projects without handing over public land to a luxury hotel developer. Here’s an example from Cornelius, Oregon, which financed a new library by combining it with other community spaces as well as affordable housing.
See: A New Chapter: Cities Are Tackling the Housing Crunch—by Building Above the Library
Many communities have updated, renovated, expanded and/or repurposed their civic buildings rather than tear them down. Here are just a few examples:
See:
American Canyon Library renovation
Benicia Community Center
Financing options can include local funding combined with construction grants and even donations or loans. For example, the California State Library has an infrastructure program.
See: California State Library infrastructure program
Pacifica opted for a loan to partially fund its Civic Center improvements.
See: New loan to cover civic center campus improvements
