Report recommends Santa Rosa sell or demolish aging city-owned buildings

One-quarter of Santa Rosa’s city-owned buildings need so much work that they should be either sold or bulldozed instead of wasting the millions of dollars needed to update them.

That’s the conclusion of a consultant’s report that listed such well-known structures as the City Hall complex, the police station, and the Bennett Valley Senior Center as among 29 “troubled buildings” that may not be worth saving.

The analysis of the city’s 114 buildings and structures has sparked a robust debate about whether the city should follow the recommendations of the consultant, CannonDesign, or override them to appease community groups who’ve used the buildings, in many cases for decades.

The inclusion on the list of the Bennett Valley Senior Center, which was built in 1935, triggered immediate concern among the seniors who take meals and socialize at the center.

“We did have a fairly lively and active conversation with the senior group” about the future of the center, Jason Nutt, Santa Rosa’s director of transportation and public works, told the City Council last week.

That future is still unclear, but given the heavy usage of the building, the city is not recommending divesting or demolishing it at this time.

The report is noteworthy for its stark assessment of the city’s building stock, which the report valued at $200 million.

The average building in the city is 43 years old, and the maintenance needs generally qualify their state as “poor” in the consultant’s “facility condition index.”

That’s not so much a measure of the current condition, but a cost-benefit analysis of current value to future maintenance costs.

Over the next five years, the city faces $32 million in direct maintenance costs on the buildings, more when soft costs are taken into account. Ten years out, that number climbs to $48 million. The goal of the analysis was to give city leaders a clear understanding of those costs to help them decide whether to reinvest in those buildings or just get rid of them.

There are currently 12 buildings on the list to be razed. Some may not be missed much, like the vacant, shabby houses in Roseland or gazebos in Pioneer Park, Southwest Community Park and Youth Park. Other, however, may generate more opposition.

The craftsman-style caretaker’s house in Howarth Park was built in 1935 and is a park fixture that was rented out for years. In 2013, the city was renting it out for $1,000 per month. It’s not clear when the rental arrangement ended.

The city’s analysis valued the building at just $154,000, but estimated its 5-year maintenance costs at $47,000, a ratio that earned it a “poor” ranking in the analysis.

The clubhouse at Galvin Park, built in 1970 and used by the Santa Rosa Tennis Club, is another aging structure on the list that may generate some pushback if the city moves forward with demolition.

If the city did so, it would probably do it in conjunction with a project to replace the 405-square-foot building with a new facility, Nutt said.

More buildings landed on the consultant’s sell list. They include the City Hall complex, which was built in 1967. Several of the buildings are listed on the maintenance index as “critical.”

Because of the prime location in downtown, however, the city is eyeing the City Hall property for its development potential. Sonoma County is considering a similar effort for much of its administrative campus, and the two agencies are planning to put out what is known as a request for information to gauge developers’ interest in such an opportunity.

The consultant also recommended selling or otherwise divesting a building erected in 1980 near Northwest Community Park that is now used for day care. City officials said that is not an immediate priority.

The same goes for relocating the police station on Sonoma Avenue, which also came up in the report.

“That is a much more challenging facility for us to relocate, and it will take some time for us to get there,” Nutt told the council.

The council asked city staff to return with additional information, including whether the Bennett Valley Senior Center could be used as housing for the homeless, something Councilman Tom Schwedhelm said he might support. Councilman John Sawyer noted that it’s the second time in a decade the city has brought up closing the senior center. He said he wanted the seniors who use the center not to be left in the cold.

“It is a bit like waiting outside the operating room,” Sawyer said. “You know, ‘How’s the patient?’?”