New Temecula Civic Center becoming a reality

“The Civic Center area is going to just be the linchpin in the synergy that’s going on in Old Town,” remarked Councilmember Maryann Edwards in reference to Temecula City Council approval of the Old Town Civic Center Project Master Plan during a public hearing at last Tuesday night’s meeting.

“We’ve got the Children’s Museum, now we’ve got the Temecula Museum, we’ve got the theater, we’re starting to see the attraction of businesses, we’ve got mixed use… and this is going to be a magnificent project,” Edwards continued. The evolution of the project over the last few years, according to Edwards, “is kind of like watching a butterfly come out of its cocoon.”

The Master Plan of the proposed civic center complex, unveiled at the council meeting by Assistant City Manager Gary Thornhill, will include a new city hall, a 480-space parking structure and a central plaza. Thornhill likened the plaza to the piazzas, or open areas, so abundant in Italy and showed pictures on the overhead projector of them and of the town square in downtown Santa Fe to emphasize his appreciation of the public gathering areas.

“I’m very passionate about Old Town,” Thornhill told the assembly at the beginning of his presentation. “I think this

goes so well with what we as a community… have as a vision for… the social center of the town.”

In order to achieve that vision, city officials first needed to purchase property that was held by 17 different owners. “All [17] were acquired by friendly acquisition,” Thornhill reported. “No eminent domain.”

The Redding-area architectural firm of Nichols, Melberg and Rossetto came highly recommended and was subsequently selected to head the project after city officials conducted reference checks, visited the site of some of the facilities constructed by the firm and after learning that the firm “brought just about everything in under budget.”

The addition of the parking garage will increase Old Town parking capacity by one-third, according to City Manager Shawn Nelson. “All parking issues are resolved,” said City Attorney Peter Thorson.

The civic center complex will be constructed in the first phase of the project at a projected cost of $24.6 million, which is included in the 2007-11 Capital Improvement Program budget. The majority of the funding will come from the Redevelopment Agency tax allocation bonds.

Another public hearing held at the city council meeting last Tuesday night dealt with the proposed addition of Verizon Cable franchise to the existing Adelphia cable franchise in the Temecula Valley.

The proposal would allow Verizon to provide service to the entire city of Temecula for a 15-year term and would include cable services, advance voice and data services and Verizon’s new FiOS TV service. The move constitutes “adding competition to the playing field,” according to Councilmember Jeff Comerchero, and would be a huge step toward breaking the long-held monopoly that cable companies have held over television viewers.

Councilmembers passed both proposals unanimously.