Atherton Selects Architect To Design Civic Center

Atherton City Council approved a contract with an architecture firm to design a plan for the town’s new civic center.

HMC+Beverly Prior Architects was chosen and will begin collecting information from Atherton city staff this week that will fortify the team with information needed to draft the plan.

The new town center will be a space that will hold a majority of the town’s government offices, as well as the library, the police department, and council chambers. The goal is to create a “there there” that will meet the community’s needs and be a source of civic pride for Atherton residents, George Rodericks, Atherton City Manager, told Patch.

Atherton residents approved allocating funding for the endeavor during the November 2012 election, with 74% of the 3,728 voters who participated in the election voting yes on Measure L.  The text of the measure declared that funds for the new town center will come from private donations and building fees. 

The Civic Center Advisory Committee chose and nominated the firm from among four design consultants that responded to the request for proposals issued by the city, according to Rodericks.

Notably, the firm was selected based on its designs, not the price of the bid.   The committee that chose the firm was composed of Atherton Mayor Elizabeth Lewis, Councilmember Jim Dobbie, and Atherton residents: Paul Tonelli, Clive Merredew, Rick Degolia, Steve Dostart, Rose Hau, Phil Lively, and Didi Fisher. 
 

The consultants will be organizing a series of public workshops in the near future.