To meet the needs of a rapidly growing community, the Library and Parks & Recreation components are strategically co-located. The joining of these two components creates synergies by sharing space and other assets.
Library
The core Library functions will expand and enhance the services currently offered. Planned library areas include:
Science and Technology Discovery Center
A fun, engaging after-school destination, the 4,500 square foot Discovery Center will feature the following amenities:
- Makerspace
- Digital Media Lab
- Gaming development and contests
- Programming room for hackathons, fixit shops, and more
- STEAM learning
- Virtual reality experiences
Children's and Teen Learning
Imaginations will soar in the expansive Children's learning areas. A story time room with interactive early literacy stations, adjacent to a preschool classroom, will foster the love of reading in the very young.
- Children's library
- Early literacy center
- Teen zone
- Homework center
- Study rooms
- Interactive workstations
- Story time area-in-the round
Lifelong Learning
The Adult learning areas will be a beacon for all, with a full book collection, reading computer lab, in addition to the below amenities:
- Books, DVDs, downloadable media
- Marketplace of new ideas
- Interactive workstations
- Project READ Adult tutoring
- Adult learning classrooms
- Study rooms
- High-speed Wi-Fi
Parks & Recreation
The Parks & Recreation areas of the Community Civic Center will support and enhance user experience. Planned Parks & Recreation areas include:
- Increased space and opportunities to support and enhance fitness, performance, learning and enrichment, crafts, and technology-driven multi-purpose spaces.
- Two generous halls to house medium and large social gatherings, civic, community and cultural events, function as banquet space, or accept business gatherings with an adjacent catering kitchen, support, and storage facilities.
- A strong complement of small, medium, and large classrooms and numerous exercise and dance spaces, and a state-of-the-art teaching kitchen.
- Preschool-aged classroom
- Numerous exercise and dance studios with changing rooms.
- Three music rooms.
- An early learning classroom to provide high-quality pre-school aged class programs.
- Administrative spaces to provide exceptional customer service.
- A 1.3-acre park with passive and active recreational areas for community gathering, events, outdoor fitness programs, and children's play.
Inside Community Space
Two generous halls are planned to house medium and large social gatherings, civic, community and cultural events, function as banquet space, or business gatherings with an adjacent kitchen, and storage facilities. The building includes a strong complement of small, medium, and large classrooms and numerous exercise and dance spaces.
A new Civic Plaza and the Community Theater / Council Chamber is planned and will provide an iconic image and civic presence at the El Camino Real and Chestnut Avenue intersection. The theater will be designed to accommodate multiple functions including lectures, performances and City Council meetings.
Outside Open Space
The Community Civic Campus will include inviting plaza areas, universal access, park restroom facilities, and active and passive recreational areas within its 1.3-acre park. There will be approximately 200 structured/surface parking spaces to support the Library and Parks & Recreation departments including Council Chamber.
The outdoor spaces are envisioned to accommodate a number of activities such as fitness / exercise classes, children play areas, informal seating, and quiet spaces for reading. The outdoor plaza areas will be provided for gathering, events, and informal interactions with friends. The campus will connect to the Centennial Trail that will invite bike and pedestrian activity to the campus, and provide outdoor fitness equipment for park and trail users. Future plans also include providing a "bike hub" which would take advantage of the Centennial Trail, close proximity to the SSF BART Station, key bus stops along El Camino Real, as well as the City’s Orange Memorial Park.
Transportation & Accessibility
The Community Civic Campus project will add new pathways and an extension of the Centennial Way Trail through the site, connecting to a new signalized trail crossing at Chestnut Avenue, and pedestrian, bicycle, and transit improvements along El Camino Real.
The design team prepared a Conceptual Multimodal Access and Circulation Plan to address travel to, from, and within the Civic Campus site. Planning efforts were built upon an extensive body of work conducted by the City of South San Francisco, including the General Plan, El Camino Real/Chestnut Avenue Area Plan, Bicycle Master Plan, Pedestrian Master Plan, and the Grand Boulevard Initiative project.
The Community Civic Campus’ central location and proximity to the Centennial Way Trail presents a unique opportunity to connect the City’s transportation system and support a vibrant neighborhood. Community and stakeholder feedback provided during the outreach process indicated that El Camino Real and Chestnut Avenue presented barriers to walking and biking to the Community Civic Campus. Moreover, the gap in the Centennial Way Trail along Antoinette Lane and lack of east-west connection between Arroyo Drive and Oak Avenue limits travel to and through the campus area. For these reasons, this project provides not only an opportunity to enhance community services, but to improve transportation and connectivity as well.
There are several transportation projects in progress near the Community Civic Campus site and the design team will implement several other multimodal transportation improvements:
- The City of South San Francisco and Caltrans are implementing the Grand Boulevard Initiative project to reduce pedestrian crossing distances and add a landscaped median along El Camino Real between Arroyo Drive and Chestnut Avenue.
- The SummerHill Apartment Communities (988 El Camino Real) development will add a signalized crossing for the Centennial Way Trail across Chestnut Avenue, straighten the eastern crosswalk at El Camino Real/Chestnut Avenue, and retime the traffic signal at El Camino Real/Chestnut Avenue.
- A separate engineering study is also exploring the feasibility of a future Oak Avenue extension.
- The cross-section of Antoinette Lane will be reduced by ten feet to relocate the Centennial Way Trail on to the project site.
While a majority of users are expected to access the Community Civic Campus via automobiles, above-average use of walking, biking, and transit is expected due to the site’s central location. Approximately 85 percent of non-work trips within the City of South San Francisco occur via automobile, including 45 percent driving and 40 percent carpooling. However, the site’s location is within less than one mile of existing residential and schools, along with planned improvements to pedestrian, bicycle, and transit facilities. This presents an opportunity to support non-auto modes of access. The City will strive for a 75 percent automobile mode share goal through transportation demand management (TDM) measures that encourage carpooling, walking, biking, and transit use.
Parking will be shared between uses and managed during special events. Passenger pick-up and drop-off areas, as well as loading/unloading zones will be provided. The Community Civic Campus will also include bicycle parking spaces.
Emergency vehicle access will be prioritized through various traffic control design features and treatments.