The clock is ticking on a proposed new library for Morgan Hill –
over where it is to be and where construction funds will come from.
The next step will come at Monday
’s Library Commission meeting when developer Rocke Garcia will
present his plan for a library on East Third Street in the
downtown. The Commission will hear an alternative plan for a
library behind City Hall.
The clock is ticking on a proposed new library for Morgan Hill – over where it is to be and where construction funds will come from. The next step will come at Monday’s Library Commission meeting when developer Rocke Garcia will present his plan for a library on East Third Street in the downtown.
The Commission will hear an alternative plan for a library behind City Hall.
Garcia’s proposal is a public/private partnership that requires the City Council and voters to think outside the box but which has had success in other cities.
Councilman Steve Tate said he wants to hear from the public after they have had a chance to review both plans, hear presentations and think for a while.
“We want as much public input as possible,” Tate said Wednesday.
The public is invited to attend the meeting or tune in at home on Cable Channel 17.
The alternative site behind City Hall and has always been popular with residents living in the neighborhood and parents of children at St. Catherine’s Catholic and P.A. Walsh elementary schools.
Since proponents of both sites are marshaling their forces, the council is attempting to educate the public as much as possible about each site. That would allow council to make its eventual choice based on real knowledge of facts rather than on personal preference that may overlook potential benefits or trouble.
The City Council says it is determined to proceed with the plans for the new building despite limits on library system operating hours caused by the defeat of Measure B in the March 2 election. Measure B concerned paying librarians and buying books; the new building will be paid for primarily from city Redevelopment Agency funds.
At Wednesday’s council meeting, Mayor Dennis Kennedy, Councilwoman Hedy Chang and Councilmen Larry Carr and Tate all promised that the money would be found to build the library. Councilman Greg Sellers confirmed Thursday that he thought the same way.
“It’s obvious that we all feel strongly about finding funding for the library and revisiting other choices if we need to,” Sellers said. “It’s a matter of how, not if.”
There are currently only $7.14 million in Redevelopment Agency funds designated for library use after the city spends more than $21 million on a planned indoor sports facility and center for seniors and youth and having spent more than $21 million on the community center and almost $13 million on the aquatics center opening in mid-June.
It also has reserved, from another fund, almost $3 million to turn the Condit Road soccer complex that the city is reclaiming from CYSA, the regional soccer association, into soccer and baseball fields.
The center will be on West Edmundson adjacent to Community Park.
By June council will have a report from city staff and the Library Subcommittee, composed of Tate, Kennedy, Library Commissioners and members of the public, about where addition money can be found.
Besides the RDA’s $7.14 million, another $3 million could be borrowed from the flood control fund since that would not be used until PL566 is funded, thought to be years and years away, according to Kennedy. Before PL566 work improving Little Llagas Creek through Morgan Hill can begin, the federal government must fund the Army Corps of Engineers’ part of the project and the Bush Administration version of the 2005 budget included no money at all for the project.
Some $650,000 expected from the sale of the old police building to El Toro Brewing Co. could be added to the building fund. There is $1 million in RDA funds set aside to spark downtown business activity that could be used for a library built downtown – but not in the current site – and a few other bits and pieces, including library impact fees.
Sellers said earlier that the city should also look outside the city for funds since the library also serves thousands of county residents in unincorporated areas.
The Library Subcommittee started its search for a new site with four but ended up with two – downtown and DeWitt Avenue. DeWitt is a scaled-down version of the building already designed by architects Noll and Tam when the city still expected to receive $14 million from state library bond funds.
While the city recently applied for money from the third round of grants, it does not expect to have success and is planning to pay for the entire building itself, without state help.
That site would be the vacant land behind City Hall and the library, at a total building cost (estimated) of $16,180,000.
Construction costs would be somewhat higher for the Civic Center sites because of slope, water table and utility problems, said Anthony Eulo, assistant to the city manager.
Garcia’s plan is to share the former Sunsweet site bounded by East Third, Depot and East Fourth streets with a cost to build at, roughly, $10.25 million. The site is immediately east of the Morgan Hill Times office.
A library on this site would make the library more visible – which library experts say translates into more people using the library – and make it more accessible to the general public.
Garcia has hired Field Paoli Architects, a San Francisco/San Jose firm that has an extensive background in library design.
Working from the Downtown Plan, Garcia’s plan would include a 30,000 square-foot, two-story building (approved by Santa Clara County Library) with room to expand, about 100 parking spaces for general use and several market rate condominiums for residential housing on the site.
MEASURE B
Measure B going down to defeat in the March 2 election will cause the existing library to limit its opening hours by the end of the year, said Tate at Wednesday’s council meeting.
Measure B would have extended and slightly increased a parcel tax property owners pay to the library operating fund; it needed at two-thirds majority but only received 61 percent, county wide. The vote surprised library fans, however, when Morgan Hill produced the third highest number of yes votes – 61.75 percent – than any other city in the library system.
Only Los Altos and Los Altos Hills had a higher number of yes votes; Gilroy was at the bottom.
Measure B backers in Morgan Hill, though disappointed with the overall results, were happy to see their efforts at precinct walking and voter education pay off.
Nancy Howe, Morgan Hill’s city librarian said she was surprised but gratified with the results.
“I was very pleased,” Howe said. “In the last election (for a library parcel tax), 10 years ago, Morgan Hill was at the bottom. This shows the regard the community has for its library.”
The precinct spread in Morgan Hill was between a high of 72.89 percent and a low of 55.50 percent.
Only 56.6 percent of Gilroyans voted yes on the measure. None of the precincts in Gilroy garnered more then 66 percent support, the requirement for passing a tax measure. At least one Gilroy precinct failed to garner 50 percent of the vote.
After Monday’s meeting, display boards of both plans will be on view until May 21 at the library, City Hall and the Chamber of Commerce, 17450 Monterey Road. The May issue of City Visions, mailed to residents, will include a four-page insert on both plans.
Library Commission meets 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 17555 Peak Ave. Details: www.morgan-hill.ca.gov or 779-7271. The meeting will be broadcast live on cable access channel 17.
