Description
The San Mateo County Event Center seeks to retain its position as the leading events destination in the greater San Mateo area by laying out a growth development plan for the next 30 years. Collaborating with its Board of Supervisors, stakeholders, and a specially-formed Master Plan Group, VMWP has engaged with SMCEC to create this vision.
The master planning process began with a series of information-gathering meetings with various stakeholders and key SMCEC staff. VMWP learned about many aspects of SMCEC during these meetings, including its major events and daily operations, status of existing events facilities, neighbors’ viewpoints, and its future growth aspirations.
VMWP then collected all of the stakeholder and employee comments into a “wish list” and crafted three initial scenarios for growth. The initial options were presented and discussed followed by stages of refinement into one preferred scenario. The overall goal was to build upon SMCEC’s unique cultural identity and provide a collective vision, ensuring both financial stability and flexible future development opportunities.
PROJECT FEATURES
- Fairgrounds vision planning
- Strategic short- and long-term phasing
- Facilities inventory and evaluation
- Construction budgeting
- Stakeholder and neighborhood engagement
- Vision renderings
PROJECT INFORMATION
- Client: San Mateo County Event Center
- Building size/acres: 360,000sq.ft./ 48 acres
VMWP’s Urban Design Projects
Van Meter Williams Pollack’s urban design work falls into three broad categories: Transit- Oriented Design, Master Planning and Specific Designs, and Design Guidelines. Using our architectural design expertise, we create development prototypes for cities that will assist them in achieving their goals to provide more intensive development in important transition areas of the community. Our design guidelines add the final level of detail to the prototypes and assist developers, property owners, and the city conceive of and design appropriate projects.
Our work always includes communication with and coordination between the City, various agencies, the development community, and community residents. It also includes an active community process where we work together with local stakeholders in workshops, charrettes, and meetings to prioritize goals and create a future vision of their place. We strive to maintain clear and open communication throughout the planning and design process to ensure an efficient process and the best possible product.