County officials will present the “Santa Clara County Fairgrounds: Market Oppportunities Draft Final Report” from 7 to 9 p.m. at a Sept. 15 public meeting. The meeting will take place at the Fairgrounds’ Fiesta Hall at 344 Tully Road in San Jose.
The report provides a starting point for the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisor’s dialogue on future uses of the 150-acre site. The Board of Supervisors will hear the report at their meeting in late September.
“The Santa Clara County Fairgrounds property is an important community asset,” Board President Dave Cortese said. “The future use of the site warrants extensive and careful consideration by the community and the Board of Supervisors. This initial report is a good starting point. We still have a long way to go to create a vision for its future.”
Since October 2014, the county has gathered feedback and ideas from the community and various stakeholders; interviewed individuals and organizations who have brought forward early proposals for some portion of the Fairgrounds; completed an existing conditions report on the facilities; and evaluated the operations of the current Fairgrounds.
The consulting team of C.H. Johnson Consulting also has conducted a market assessment of support for various uses at the Fairgrounds, and looked at how those uses may or may not fit together.
“We have insisted on a transparent and visible process to reinvigorate the Fairgrounds,” District Two Supervisor Cindy Chavez said. “That’s why we have collected thousands of individual opinions from the public over the last year—and now we want the public’s input on this report, too.”
The county has done a variety of community outreach efforts for this project, including a combination of community booths at regional events, a community workshop, stakeholder meetings and a multilingual online survey.
More than 2,700 people have participated in person and over 2,800 have taken the online survey, according to county staff. The administration is exploring commissioning additional statistically reliable surveys.
Final Drafts of the consultants’ reports are available for review by the public in advance of the Sept. 15 community meeting at sccgov.org/fairgrounds.
