Municipal Services Building (MSB) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Recently, the City has received many public comments and inquiries about the future of the Municipal Services Building (MSB), located at 33 Arroyo Drive. The City has compiled the following responses to frequently asked questions about the building and site.
What are next steps for the Municipal Services Building?
On August 28, 2024, the City Council directed staff to return with a roadmap for a feasibility analysis to determine reuse opportunities for the MSB. The City Council has not approved any future use or redevelopment of the site at this time.
Additionally, they directed City Staff to explore other sites to fulfill the State’s mandate for affordable housing if the MSB continues to be a community facility rather than housing.
What happened to the programs that were held at the MSB?
Programs offered at the MSB and West Orange Library were relocated to the new Library | Parks and Recreation facility at 901 Civic Campus Way when the facility opened in 2023. New Library and Recreation programs have been added due to increased space and enhanced technology and amenities.
What is the Community Civic Campus project?
The Community Civic Campus project was made possible by Measure W funds*, a half-cent sales tax approved by South City voters in 2015. Municipal bonds were sold at very favorable interest rates to finance civic projects, with supplemental sales tax revenue from Measure W utilized to finance bond payments over time. The Civic Campus includes the Library | Parks & Recreation Center and new Police Operations Center. Additional projects made possible by Measure W include the new ballfields and the in-progress Aquatic Center at Orange Memorial Park (tentatively scheduled to open Summer 2025).
Who owns the MSB?
The building has been owned by the City of South San Francisco since 1978. Fire Station 63 is located on the MSB site, and since late 2021, staff members from the City’s Capital Projects Division of the City Manager’s Office have occupied office space in the former Police Station. While Swinerton staff, the City’s general contractors, completed close-out items on the new building, the City temporarily provided them with access to offices at the former Police Station for convenience. Swinerton no longer occupies these offices in the MSB.
What is permitted on the MSB site? What is the zoning of the MSB site?
The MSB site is currently zoned T5C (T5 Corridor Zoning District). The T5C mixed-use zoning allows for housing, commercial uses, and public uses. The T5C zoning district supports a comfortable and walkable high-intensity urban environment and is located at major intersections on El Camino Real and other locations in the city.
It was previously rezoned from “Public” to “El Camino Real Mixed-Use North, High Intensity” in 2017. When the City’s Zoning Code was substantially revised in 2022 to implement the City’s new Shape SSF 2040 General Plan, the permitted uses at the MSB site remain largely unchanged.
Why does Fire Station 63 at the MSB need to be relocated?
Fire Station 63 is the busiest station in the city. It was intended to be a temporary station when crews moved to the MSB site in 1979. The station has living quarters for five firefighters who staff one engine and one ambulance.
It does not have enough space in the apparatus bay to store any reserve apparatus, nor is it large enough to accommodate any of Fire’s larger vehicles, creating citywide operational constraints on how equipment is used. The living quarters are also limited and are not able to accommodate additional firefighters when needed for large scale incidents. Storage of emergency equipment and disaster supplies is limited and prevents the department from storing these critical items in the Buri Buri neighborhood.
The station itself is also dependent on the building’s current infrastructure which is aging, including water heater, HVAC, and emergency generation. It lacks modern fire station facilities that are necessary to ensure the health and safety of our firefighters including: adequate decontamination rooms and corridors, drive through apparatus bay access, and the capability to refill breathing air tanks.
A new station would address these limitations and provide the City’s firefighters with space to maintain their equipment, allow them to deploy more efficiently, and ultimately provide an adequately sized, modern essential facility that is seismically sound.
What is the history of the MSB?
Built in 1960, the building was originally a Value Giant department store. The building was purchased by the City in 1978 to house the Police Department (formerly located at the City Hall Annex on Maple Avenue); the Parks and Recreation Department (formerly housed at the vacant El Rancho Elementary School); and a new Fire Station, adding a fourth station in the city. The building was decommissioned in 2023, when the new Library|Parks and Recreation facility opened.
*Measure W referenced here is a District tax that went into effect on April 1, 2016. This is different from Measure W – Business License Tax Measure, which will be on the November 2024 ballot.
Additional Resources:
• About the Community Civic Campus Plans: https://www.ssf.net/Government/Measure-W/Community-Civic-Campus
• Measure W: https://www.ssf.net/Government/Measure-W