DATE: September 8, 2026
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Paul Nerland, County Administrative Officer
Daniel Lynch, Interim Director of General Services
SUBJECT: Presentation on the Facilities Master Plan
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Receive presentation from M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates, Inc. on the completed County Facilities Master Plan (Plan), including key findings and recommendations;
2. Approve the Plan as the County’s long-term comprehensive guiding framework for the development and assessment of County properties; and
3. Direct the County Administrative Officer, or designee, to evaluate implementation strategies and return to the Board with updates and options for proceeding as economic conditions change or new opportunities arise.
REPORT
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. The completed County Facilities Master Plan provides a ten-year framework for assessing and modernizing County facilities. The presentation will brief your Board on key findings and recommendations. Approval of the Plan, as requested by the County Administrative Officer in collaboration with the General Services Department, will establish a long-term strategy for addressing aging infrastructure and improving service accessibility. Upon Board direction and approval, the County Administrative Officer, or designee, will evaluate implementation options and return with updates as conditions warrant. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Should your Board choose not to approve the Plan, the County will continue to operate without a comprehensive Facilities Master Plan to guide long-term facility development, prioritization, and investment. Alternatively, your Board may direct staff to make reasonable modifications and return with a revised Plan at a later date.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. Any future capital projects or other implementation measures will be presented to your Board with associated fiscal analysis at the time those items are considered for Board approval. Any future capital projects or other implementation measures will be presented to your Board with associated fiscal analysis at the time those items are considered for Board approval. Any associated debt financing proposals would be presented to the Debt Advisory Committee for review.
DISCUSSION:
Prior to December 2024, the Board directed staff to engage an experienced consultant to develop a comprehensive Facilities Master Plan with a goal to assess current and future space needs while addressing long-term service planning, focusing on the downtown Fresno and outlying areas. On December 6, 2024, the County issued Request for Proposal (RFP) No. 25-029 requesting proposals from such consultants to work with various County staff to develop such a plan. M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates, Inc. (Gensler) was selected and your Board approved Agreement No. A-25-512 on October 7, 2025. In conjunction with the original intention, Gensler and staff are returning before your Board to present the completed Plan.
Since October 2025, Gensler has collaborated with a County Project Team and Steering Committee in regular workshops and milestone meetings to collect data needed to generate the Plan. This has included: releasing an employee workplace experience survey (1,270 responses received); issuing questionnaires and interviews to 19 Departments; attending over 40 site visits at various County buildings; and completing analysis of demographics, macro space projections, GIS commute and caseload density, demand and supply gaps, occupancy costs, and market and disposition studies. From this data, Gensler has developed three planning scenarios, including preliminary planning, construction estimates, funding strategies with comparative matrices, and cash-flow models, all of which are found within the Plan.
The first recommended action will allow Gensler, along with County staff, to present key findings and recommendations from the completed Plan.
Key findings show that County facilities are generally aligned with population distribution as 61% of the population are in proximity to downtown buildings. However, challenges identified with downtown area include limited parking and fragmented service locations; residents in rural and outlying areas have limited broadband access, making it more challenging for these constituents to obtain County services.
Additionally, the County has aging infrastructure. With 38% of the County’s facilities over 50 years old and beyond their useful life without major renovation and another 24% nearing the end of useful life, the accumulating costs of delaying facilities investments, especially with downtown assets (e.g., the Plaza Building, Hall of Records, and Crocker Building) would mean more deferred maintenance liabilities.
The County’s portfolio is nearly evenly split between owned and leased facilities. Although departments prefer owned, purpose-built buildings, options are limited as County faces real estate market constraints since very few large, contiguous areas are available downtown for either leasing or purchasing.
The Plan contains recommendations for the overall portfolio structured around six strategic directions:
1. Maintain downtown Fresno civic and administrative functions to strengthen the County’s institutional presence and integrate new properties into a coherent Downtown Strategy.
2. Exit underperforming assets, like the County Plaza Building, that consume more resources than they return and reinvest in alternatives that yield a future forward portfolio.
3. Shift towards purpose-built facilities and ensure existing facilities are assigned based on functional need, eliminating the operational fragmentation that results from decisions driven by availability rather than intent.
4. Modernize the workplace across the portfolio to provide equity to staff and use rightsizing of space standards as a growth management tool before expanding the portfolio.
5. Shift from a lease-dependent portfolio toward strategic ownership to reduce long-term financial exposure.
6. Extend equitable service access to underserved and rural communities by co-locating services within existing County facilities, using that model to test and validate community need before committing to new real estate.
These six strategic directions support the two proposed strategies:
1. Downtown Investment Strategy: To modernize the downtown area by replacing aging facilities, strengthening owned real estate portfolio, improving workplace environments, addressing deferred maintenance, and coordinating future capital investments through a portfolio-wide approach. This includes disposing of the Plaza Building, constructing new, purpose-built facilities for the Fresno Sheriff’s Office, Emergency Services, and Department of Public Works and Planning at locations better fit for operational needs, and undergoing full interior renovations of the Hall of Records and Crocker Building. This strategy will reduce long-term maintenance liabilities, lower operating costs, and strengthen the County’s use of the downtown area.
2. Countywide Service Delivery Strategy: To improve how services are delivered by enhancing accessibility, leveraging technology, expanding community partnerships, and creating a more equitable, resilient, and customer-focused network of public services. This strategy includes a balance of investments with technology, transportation, and community partnerships to create a flexible network for urban and rural residents alike to connect with public services, enhancing the convenience of receiving and reducing barriers to access of services, especially for historically underserved rural areas of the County.
Approval of the second recommended action will provide the County with a completed Plan that will guide the development and assessment of County properties over the next ten-year timeframe. This includes an initial five-year phased approach that prioritizes constructing new facilities, using the Plaza Building as swing space for major downtown renovations before ultimately demolishing and disposing of the Plaza site, while preserving parking capacity.
Approval of the third recommended action would allow staff to begin implementing the Plan while providing flexibility to return to the Board with as-needed revisions or new proposals as market conditions, service demands, and economic opportunities shift.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #31, October 7, 2025
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Presentation
County Facilities Master Plan
CAO ANALYST:
Amy Ryals