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Gilroy staff outline civic center master plan that would replace four aging buildings; EIR flags historic loss
Summary
Public Works project manager Ryan Ozington presented a draft civic center master plan to the Parks & Recreation Commission proposing demolition of four aging buildings and construction of a new city hall, multi-generational facility, recreation/aquatic center and a civic park; the draft EIR found a "significant and unavoidable" impact tied to the loss of Wheeler Auditorium.
Ryan Ozington, project manager in Gilroy Public Works, told the Parks & Recreation Commission the civic center master plan would update a 2002 plan for the city’s core campus and guide long-term facilities decisions.
"A civic center master plan is essentially the long-term planning document we use to develop facilities within our footprint," Ozington said, describing a campus footprint bounded roughly by Church Street to Dowy Street and Sixth to Seventh Streets. He said the plan would remove four existing structures — city hall, the annex (former police headquarters), Wheeler Auditorium and the senior center — and replace them with a new city hall, a multi-generational center, a recreation and aquatic facility and a civic park.
Ozington described programming and scale: the proposed civic park would be roughly the size of a football field and include shaded areas for community events, a walking loop and an interactive water feature. He said the multi-generational facility would be about 41,600 square feet with an auditorium (roughly 120–150 seats cited in discussion), senior activity rooms and dedicated youth space. The proposed city hall was estimated near 47,500 square feet, including new public counters and council chambers facing the civic park.
The city retained ELS (urban architecture and design) and EMC Planning to produce the plan and draft environmental impact report (EIR). Ozington said the draft EIR categorizes impacts from "no impact" to "significant and unavoidable," and staff’s review identified one significant and unavoidable effect: the proposed project would cause the loss of a historic resource — Wheeler Auditorium. "Wheeler has been around since the 1940s," Ozington said, adding that the auditorium is registered at the state level and that demolition would trigger documentation requirements by a qualified architectural historian prior to issuing demolition permits.
Commissioners pressed staff on technical details — pool length (Ozington said lap lanes would be 25 yards), whether the recreation pool would be indoor or outdoor (staff said the facility would include an outdoor pool), multipurpose gym flexibility and parking counts. Ozington said the plan is tracking toward about 425 parking spaces with the capacity to add roughly 180 more by building a parking structure at a designated location.
On schedule and next steps, Ozington said staff aims to forward the master plan to the City Council for adoption in June and, if adopted, to refine financing and phasing plans. He said the city is aiming for a potential ballot initiative in 2028, contingent on council adoption and subsequent budgeting decisions.
The presentation and draft EIR are open for public comment through close of business on the Friday following the commission meeting; Ozington said staff will log comments and forward them to EMC for incorporation into the EIR process. The commission took no formal action on the master plan at the meeting; staff asked commissioners to forward questions and public comments for inclusion in the EIR record.
