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Committee hears fairgrounds master‑plan update and urges FMC bylaws change
Summary
County staff told the Finance and Government Operations Committee that the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds drew roughly 40,000 visitors last year and that a two‑phase master plan will focus on activating a 30–32‑acre core while studying the remainder of the 140‑acre parcel; supervisors pressed the Fairgrounds Management Corporation (FMC) to move a bylaws amendment to improve governance.
Chairperson Betty Young opened discussion on the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds quarterly report and invited Consuelo Hernandez, deputy county executive, and Celine Duarte, executive director of the Fairgrounds Management Corporation, to present the county’s progress and master‑planning approach.
Duarte said the county fair returned strong attendance last year: “We had our annual county fair … and we had approximately 40,000 guests that attended over those five days.” She told the committee FMC had hosted about 86 events across concerts, cultural festivals, livestock shows and community gatherings and had completed cleanup work on legacy code and safety violations.
Deputy County Executive Consuelo Hernandez described the two‑part master plan: activate the 30–32‑acre core that already has utilities and infrastructure, and run a market‑study and community engagement process to determine viable uses for the balance of the roughly 140‑acre parcel. She told the committee staff are finishing a consultant memo that summarizes opportunities and constraints and that a secondary solicitation for a strategic advisor will be released in May, with a target to have a contractor in place before June 30.
Committee members pressed staff on governance. Hernandez flagged that implementing the administration’s earlier restructuring recommendation depends on a bylaws amendment at the FMC governing board: “The current rate‑limiting step is a bylaws change from the FMC governing board,” she said, noting an ad hoc committee has been working on the item. Chairperson Young and other supervisors urged the committee’s appointees to the FMC to prioritize moving the amendment to a vote so county directives can be executed more quickly.
The committee moved to receive the report. Chairperson Young said she wanted periodic follow‑ups, event schedules and continued outreach to neighborhood groups; the motion to receive passed.
What happens next: staff will issue the secondary solicitation in May, begin the second phase of master‑planning work when the strategic advisor is onboarded, and provide follow‑up reporting to the committee on implementation milestones and community engagement.
