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BACKGROUND The mission of the Civic Center/Library Master Plan Task Force was to explore options and make recommendations to the City Council regarding a potential new Civic Center/Library Master Plan The Task Force was comprised of 11 members including Mayor Jerry Thorne and Councilmember Karla Brown, representatives from the Planning Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission, Library Commission, Youth Commission, the Economic Vitality Committee, Pleasanton Downtown Association and three at-large community representatives The Task Force met approximately monthly from July 2015 through July 2016 The City hired Architect Mark Schatz, Field Paoli Architects, and Economic Planning Systems to assist the Task Force and staff in some of the more technical aspects of a Master Plan analysis and preparation DISCUSSION Primary Issues Primary issues raised and addressed during Civic Center/Library Master Plan Task Force deliberations included the following 1 Selection of Bernal Property over the current Civic Center Site The Task Force preferred the relocation of the Civic Center and library to the Bernal property rather than rebuilding on the exiting site for several reasons One primary reason was the additional space that was available to accommodate the facilities including a substantially larger library, a larger police department building, and a new community center The Task Force also recognized the value of freeing up the existing Civic Center site to allow for downtown revitalization and improvements to the southern entrance to Main Street The Task Force also appreciated the opportunity to provide usable outdoor spaces surrounding the facilities for public and private events The proposed Master Plan includes a large plaza and meadow, an amphitheater, and second floor outdoor deck space to achieve these objectives The location along Bernal Avenue also gives the facilities high visibility which was considered important to the Task Force members as they serve as the governmental and cultural center of the community 2 Relationship to the Bernal Community Park Site The Task Force wanted to ensure that the Civic Center integrated well with the remainder of the Bernal Community Park The site plan in the Master Plan document orients the civic center buildings to look out onto the remainder of the park and provides a large outdoor meadow to bring park-like landscape into the Civic Center complex 3 Parking and Circulation A major concern of the Task force was to provide adequate parking to serve the Civic Center as well as 250 additional spaces to serve the adjacent ball fields in Bernal Community Park The circulation has been designed to allow access from two locations on Bernal Avenue and flows through the site to allow connections between the various parking areas Special care has been given to providing parking proximate to all of the proposed facilities with drop off areas near the library and community center entrances The police department has its own dedicated secure parking lot with additional open parking area for the community It should be noted that the current text of the draft plan calls a two level parking structure The Task Force actually concluded that a three story structure should be considered and the text of the draft will be revised to reflect that recommendation unless City Council disagrees 2 of 5