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By Collin Breaux
This month marks the last one in which the San Juan Capistrano City Council and city staff will work out of the current City Hall Facility, which has been a “temporary” building for decades.
A new City Hall facility will eventually replace the current one at Paseo Adelanto. An affordable housing complex with 49 housing units—tailored toward veterans and formerly homeless people looking to get back on their feet—and one unit for on-site management will also be incorporated onto the site, under an agreement reached with Jamboree Housing Corporation.
Community Services Director Matisse Reischl relayed a project update to the City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 1.
“Jamboree is gearing up to take control of the site on December 1 to begin preparations for the project,” Reischl said. “We’ll be moving the City Hall offices to a temporary location in just a couple of weeks.”
That interim location will be at 30448 Rancho Viejo Road. City operations will be one of several tenants in that building.
“The first component of the new City Hall project will be demolition of the existing building we have here today,” Reischl said. “A new two-story City Hall with administrative offices and 50 units of permanent supportive housing will be constructed.”
City Council meetings will eventually move to the San Juan Capistrano Community Center at 25925 Camino Del Avion, near Marco Forster Middle School.
“This decision was made given the space limitations of the current City Hall site,” Reischl said. “It would have been cost-prohibitive to go up an additional third story. Likely, had we even done that, the capacity of the City Council chamber may not have been adequate for a larger-type meeting. There’s also ample parking at the Community Center location that’s more beneficial than the parking available here.”
The design phase of the new City Council chamber is currently underway. Staff plans to solicit construction bids and have the City Council approve the final plans and specifications in December or January.
“Expect construction to begin in February 2023, with construction anticipated to be complete in September,” Reischl said.
In the interim during construction, City Council and other city board meetings will be held at the Nydegger Building at 31421 La Matanza Street, near the San Juan Capistrano Library.
The last City Council meeting at the current City Hall site will be held on Nov. 14 and include a recognition.
Once the new facility is ready, city staff and other city board meetings—such as the Cultural Heritage Commission—will operate out of the updated site. Construction is expected to begin in January.
“It’s approximately a 24-month construction timeline, with construction anticipated to be complete in January 2025,” Reischl said. “The public counter construction and IT infrastructure installation is currently underway at the (temporary) site. From November 17 to November 20 is when the physical move will actually take place. November 17, current City Hall will be open for business. We’ll be doing some preliminary packing.”
The current City Hall site will be closed the next day on Friday, Nov. 18, for the move. The temporary City Hall site will then open on Monday, Nov. 21.
Councilmember John Taylor thanked staff for bringing the long-awaited move to life.
“This finally happened. It’s going to be amazing,” Councilmember John Taylor said. “I’m super-excited to be a part of this historical event. I still can’t even believe it’s going through.”
Mayor Derek Reeve said he remembers having meetings 12 years ago about moving City Hall somewhere else.
“We’ve had meetings where—although it’s been really boring the past four years—(there’s been) some pretty raucous events,” Reeve said. “I’m really excited.”
Collin Breaux
Collin Breaux covers San Juan Capistrano and other South Orange County news as the City Editor for The Capistrano Dispatch. Before moving to California, he covered Hurricane Michael, politics and education in Panama City, Florida. He can be reached by email at cbreaux@picketfencemedia.com.
