City Manager Ed Tewes pulled a financial rabbit out of his hat
at Monday
’s Library Commission meeting and came up with a few extra
millions to add to the library building fund, almost closing the
gap.
City Manager Ed Tewes pulled a financial rabbit out of his hat at Monday’s Library Commission meeting and came up with a few extra millions to add to the library building fund, almost closing the gap.
On hand already, or reasonably expected, Tewes said, is $5.4 million reserved from Redevelopment Agency funds, $148,300 from the Joint Powers Authority (the library’s governing body), $475,000 in library impact fees (from newly built houses) already in hand, minus the amount spent to date ($260,000 on previous designs) equaling $5,763,300.
Impact fees and JPA contributions will continue for a total of about $2 million – Tewes said, “resulting in an estimate of approximately $7.7 million currently available.”
Since the new building will cost upwards of $11 million, more had to be found.
The city originally hoped it would be granted $14 million from a state bond fund to pay for a $21 million, 40,000 square-foot library. Those expectations are all but dead, after two failed attempts and a third submitted with real, but faint hope for funding.
Tewes suggested tripling library impact fees paid by developers on each new house ($180,000/year), adding RDA land sales income on Watsonville Road teacher housing property ($400,000) and the soon-to-be vacated police station ($650,000).
A start-up loan to Abbott Labs will come due in November 2005 ($722,000) and, if necessary, he said, proceeds of loans to Weston Miles Architects on the Granary and Dayworker Center projects could be added; the loan is due in three to seven years.
Tewes said he and his staff had compared the costs for two proposed projects – a traditional city-built library behind City Hall and a public/private arrangement built downtown by Rocke Garcia, a local resident and leased to the city for 25 years, after which the city would own the building but would have to buy the property for market value.
“Which is better?” Tewes asked the commission Monday. “Should I buy a Toyota Camry or lease a Honda Accord?”
Tewes said, while costs were a moving target, he pinned them down to $14,712,000 at the Civic Center and $11,109,800 downtown, both without land costs. The Civic Center gap is $1.1 million; the downtown gap is $600,000.
Before Tewes took the podium to explain how he found a little here, a little there, the commission heard plans for two new buildings for two different sites from two architectural firms. The presentations were part of a City Council plan to alert and educate the public – and themselves – about the pros and cons of the two choices. Council is scheduled to decide on a library building plan in late June.
CIVIC CENTER SITE
First up was Chris Noll of Noll and Tam, originally tapped by the City Council to build the $21 million, 40,000 square-foot building for the vacant lot behind City Hall on DeWitt and West Main Avenue.
Instead, trying to live within its means, the council asked that any planned library would be 28,000 square-feet with room on site for a 10,000 square-foot future expansion at a cost it could cover without state money.
Noll said he reduced the size of most areas by 10-20 percent, eliminated a large public meeting room (keeping a small one) and an area to be jointly used by the schools is gone. One desk would face both the adult and children’s areas, reducing needed staff numbers.
“During the second construction (an expansion),” Noll said, “the children’s area would take over the adult room and the adults would move into the new wing.”
Construction could take place without closing the library, he said. He said construction could cost $11 million (construction costs only) and with the judicious use of expensive materials the building could still be attractive.
Noll told the commission that the site benefits include views of El Toro, the city’s landmark hill, plus the luxury of a large lot to combine the library with a central fountain and courtyard and sufficient parking.
DOWNTOWN SITE
Next up was Rocke Garcia, long-time resident and developer, and his architect Mark Schatz of Field/Paoli, a firm that has built many libraries in the Bay Area – Sacramento, Dublin, Saratoga, Danville, Blossom Hill-Vineland, Belmont and Millbrae, to name a few. Garcia outlined a public/private partnership deal he has proposed, one that would give the city a library sooner, cheaper and benefit more taxpayers but would come with some baggage and possible legal thickets to be worked through.
Garcia proposes that he build a library downtown on the historic site of the Sunsweet Packing Company, a lot bordered by East Third, East Fourth and Depot streets and the city lease it from him.
“We would be tying together the past, present and future,” Garcia said, “with a two-story library with an urban feel.”
A 30-foot-wide promenade on Third with an inviting entry gate, would connect the downtown, the library, the train depot and soon-to-be café with the county courthouse about to rise between Butterfield Boulevard and the railroad tracks.
Every Morgan Hill resident will benefit, he said, because the library will be more visible and, the more visible a library is and the easier it is to reach, the more people will use it – which is the point of a library.
Many cities have or are building their libraries in or near downtowns returning to vibrancy – San Mateo, Danville, Cupertino, Sunnyvale and Mountain View to name a few.
Garcia has hired Toeniskoetter and Breeding as contractors, the firm that built the Cochrane and Madrone business parks north of Cochrane Road.
“They have done 65 public/private projects,” Garcia said, “and invested more than $200 million in Morgan Hill. This public/private library project would take advantage of what each firm does best.”
Garcia said he had worked with city staff and, drawing on the private part of the partnership, could build the 30,000 square-foot library for $3 million less than the Civic Center plan, or $13.9 million to Noll and Tam’s $16.4 million, including furniture and equipment. Doing the project his way would save 15 percent in construction costs: $499 per square-foot to Noll and Tam’s $586.
Garcia would accomplish this cost reduction by controlling the project himself instead of going out to bid and accepting the lowest reasonable bid, as the city is legally bound to do. He would lease the building to the city for 25 years, then sell it to the city for $1. The JPA will contribute $75,000 per year to the lease agreement.
The land would be purchased at a later date when the current fiscal crisis is past.
That privately built projects usually cost less than an equivalent public project is true, said Jim Dumas, the city’s senior project manager/community buildings.
“The big difference between private and public projects,” Dumas said, “is the amount of people involved, not necessarily construction costs. Rocke will control the design and make it extremely efficient.” Dumas said that, in a public project, the entire city gets to make decisions in a way that doesn’t always mean efficiency in cost.
“Sometimes the aesthetics of a project are more important than the actual cost,” Dumas said. He estimated that not using a construction management team – which the city does – will save Garcia at least $500,000. The public, he said, often makes changes to design after plans are complete, another big cost.
Therein lies a potential thicket that Tewes and the city attorney are working their way through.
THE THICKET
Tewes said, while general law cities (which Morgan Hill is) cannot spend taxpayer money on projects not put out to bid, some charter cities can. Even if the JPA contains a charter city – Gilroy – which might give it the power, in this case it can’t because Gilroy’s charter does not allow a no-bid procedure.
“It could be rewritten as San Jose just did,” Tewes said.
“If both the site and the deal are worth pursuing,” he said, “we could seek special legislation authorizing the JPA to do design built (no bids).”
Garcia could move to Plan C, Tewes said, and take advantage of lower than usual contracting costs by getting bids within each of the trades (plumbing, concrete). The process is called multiple prime contracting and was used in the Sobrato High School bidding.
“He believes that would work,” Tewes said. “Another plan would be to give him a ground lease and have the city build the building.”
Other problems the Garcia project faces are the floodplain, parking and the Downtown Plan. Any building on the Sunsweet property would need to be raised at least 12 inches, Tewes said earlier. Not a problem, Garcia said.
Library Commissioners questioned the effect a library would have on parking. Schatz said his plan includes 90 parking spaces which would act as shared parking, a help during the Friday and Saturday night restaurant crunch. Spaces would be reserved for patrons during the soon-to-be-limited hours county libraries will be open – 30 hours a week.
Downtown Association President Lesley Miles spoke to the commission about concerns that a library on Third Street is not what the recently adopted Downtown Plan had in mind. Retail shops and restaurants, making up a vibrant, active street with a lot of foot traffic is the plan. She suggested he take a look at a new three-story Portland, Oregon, library which includes books, housing above and a café on the corner, drawing people from outside and inside.
The Third Street library plans include two entrances: one to the interior parking lot and one out to Third Street, encouraging downtown walking, shopping and dining.
Garcia said afterwards that his plans are still in the “embryonic stage.”
“There is room for lots of changes,” Garcia said. “We are listening to everyone to see what will work.”
Library commissioners largely just listened Monday; they will review the two plans and make a recommendation to the council later.
Melinda Cervantes, Santa Clara County head librarian, told the commission she knows the work of both architectural firms and would be happy to work with either.
A four-page insert in City Visions describing both projects will soon appear in Morgan Hill mailboxes.
