The Sunnyvale Sun

News

Much-needed expansion of service center being planned

By Cody Kraatz

The Columbia Neighborhood Center is due for an upgrade, once the city of Sunnyvale, which maintains and operates the center, and the Sunnyvale School District, which owns the property and will manage the planned renovation, settle on the estimated $3.5 million price tag.

How it would be paid for is still up in the air, and there is no construction schedule yet. Rob Williams, district director of facility modernization and construction, said he expects the upgrade to begin within the next two years.

The proposed 3,549-square-foot expansion to the 19,791-square-foot building could bring a 1,000-square-foot fitness center, a nearly double-size medical clinic with a new lobby and more offices and conference rooms for social services providers, according to preliminary plans.

"I think space is always challenged," said Angela Chan, Sunnyvale's youth and family resources manager and CNC manager. "We're constantly negotiating for space."

The center, at 785 Morse Ave. on the grounds of Columbia Middle School and next to Columbia Park, provides critical services to the largely low-income neighborhood.

Services include medical care, child and family counseling, English as a Second Language classes and after-school programs including athletics, homework and recreation. Columbia students, who are a major target of the center's offerings, also use a large gym and locker rooms.

Officials said it became clear shortly after the center opened in 1996 that the space was not sufficient for the kind of services they wanted to offer.

Chan said she would like to see more health services and that the approximately 10 proposed new offices and two conference rooms would bring flexibility for the outside agencies that offer services through the center.

"If we provide more space our partners would still have to look within their own organizations, look at funding and resources," she said, adding that she has not talked with her partners yet because she does not know the construction schedule.

Meanwhile, the city and the district are still negotiating how to share the project cost.

The district would like to split it 50-50 as it did when the center was originally built, said Benjamin Picard, district deputy superintendent. Advanced Micro Devices was also a major donor at the time.

The district already has $500,000 from AMD, $500,000 from an anonymous donor and almost $700,000 from Measure P funds for school expansions, he said.

City officials said any speculation as to where the city's share would come from is premature while numbers are still being negotiated.

"Obviously, the Columbia Neighborhood Center is an important and valuable resource to the community, and the city recognizes the need for the expansion," said city spokesman Adam Levermore-Rich.

The designs have been based on a set of needs identified by the CNC Joint Task Force, which is composed of city and district officials.

The center has filled many gaps in services for Columbia residents identified in past studies, but some gaps remain, including the need for low-cost legal services.

Chan said she did not know if any new services would be offered after the upgrade, and said that the city will work at identifying community needs through outreach.

For information about the Columbia Neighborhood Center, visit sunnyvale.ca.gov/Departments/Office+of+the+City+Manager/Community+Resources/CNC.