Capitola City Hall is due for an upgrade, but exactly when and where that happens is yet to be determined.
A new study assessing the needs of the seven-acre property only a few blocks from the city’s esplanade revealed that the 48-year-old city hall and police station buildings are in poor condition, aren’t meeting the needs of the staff that occupy them and are fast approaching the end of their lifecycle. On top of that, both are located in a floodplain and are only a stone’s throw from Soquel Creek.
Still, in the context of multiple ongoing large-scale projects — such as the Capitola Wharf rebuild and development of parks at Rispin Mansion and Jade Street — the City Council is aiming to continue the effort’s momentum by including it in upcoming budget talks, but stopped short of immediately prioritizing it for future funding.
“I would like to see us continue the planning and then we can work on the funding,” said Councilmember Joe Clarke, a retired sheriff’s sergeant, at the council’s meeting Thursday. “I would really love to see us keep moving forward.”
The nearly $50,000 assessment, led by Group 4 Architecture and ordered by the council last September, included a deep dive into the four buildings on the property surrounding City Hall at 420 Capitola Ave., with special focus on City Hall itself and the contiguous police department. The report included a building conditions analysis and a staff survey that received 40 responses.
Among the many findings revealed by the survey are that 95% or about 38 of respondents found City Hall’s break room to be “insufficient/OK.” The same rating was applied to restroom facilities by 85% or 34 respondents, 82% or 32 respondents when it comes to the entrance/public services counter and roughly the same number of responses and rating when it comes to staff workspaces.
Currently, the combined size of City Hall and the police station is about 12,300 square feet while the necessary size, based on industry standards and projected population and staff growth in the city according to Group 4, should range from 16,500 square feet to 17,900 square feet.
Additionally, the city currently employees the equivalent of 52.8 full time workers — it’s highest total since 2000.
Meanwhile, Soquel Creek flows just across the street and has disrupted essential city services in the past during intense storm periods. In 2011, the police station and portions of the lower level of City Hall flooded due to a culvert failure near Monterey Avenue at the lower Capitola Village parking lot, according to the staff report.
Group 4 representative Andrea Gifford gave a rough estimate that doing a complete rebuild of the facilities would cost about $20 million.
Capitola City Manager Jamie Goldstein said because these emergency response facilities have experienced flooding in the past, it may open parts of a future project up to outside funding sources. But at the same time, he added, city hall revamps are typically paid for by the local jurisdictions and sometimes made possible by a bond proposal or other fundraising strategies.
“These sorts of things happen in steps and it’s a big number ($20 million),” said Goldstein. “I think that if we can kind of break it into chunks, there is the possibility.”
The next step in the process, according to city staff, would be a decision to pursue Phase 2 studies, which are estimated to cost $67,150 and will seek to identify goals for the future of City Hall through multiple community engagement opportunities and stakeholder meetings. Once the goals are established, the consultant will share proposals for the future of City Hall that align with the goals and submit a final report to the council for a decision.
During a goal setting session for the city budget last month, the council deferred the decision to order the Phase 2 study due to the emergence of other high-priority needs. But after a presentation and discussion of the topic at last week’s meeting, the council asked its staff to include further analysis of a possible Phase 2 study when budget discussions kick off in a few weeks.
Capitola Community Development Director Katie Herlihy said this is the third time the city has considered this issue, with the topic originally surfacing 20 years ago.
None of the councilmembers tried to reverse course and explicitly call for the second study to be included in the coming year’s budget, but Councilmember Alexander Pedersen did express a feeling of urgency despite budgetary limitations.
“Even though it seems like an incredibly daunting task and unfathomable number and price tag on this, I think it’s still really important to keep moving these steps forward,” said Pedersen. “If we don’t take any steps forward in the next decade, then where are we going to be when a disaster strikes?”
