| Cover Story - Friday, October 16, 2009
New library, civic center for downtown?
New complex could cost $70 million
by Jeb Bing
It could take years before sufficient funds are available and construction actually starts but the City Council has taken a major step towards building a $70-million new Civic Center complex and public library. Councilmembers indicated that the library would be the first to be rebuilt.
At a joint city council-library commission meeting, a majority of councilmembers said they favored a recommendation by the library commission to move the library from its current location at 400 Old Bernal Ave. to a new 73,000-square-foot public library building that would be built on city-owned property at the south end of Main Street. That would more than double the floor space of today's 21-year-old library, which has 30,178 square feet of space.
"I like the idea of making the library part of the grand entrance to our downtown," Mayor Jennifer Hosterman said. "It would be an opportunity to grab a book and walk downtown for coffee at Tully's or Cafe Main. I also like the idea of taking this opportunity to build a civic center that is more compact and allows us to have an organization under one roof."
As part of the project, most of the civic center facilities, including temporary buildings, would be torn down with a new 56,000-square-foot complex to be built at the north end of the existing library building for use by city administrative offices that are now located in buildings at 400 Old Bernal Ave. and at 123 and 157 Main St. The existing library building also would be converted into office and meeting room spaces for the city government and other public uses.
The plan also calls for constructing parking garages for 171 vehicles for library patrons and another 523 vehicles adjacent to the new civic center.
The police headquarters building on Bernal Avenue would not be affected in the study's recommendation, although several council members have said they would like to see a more architecturally-pleasing facility built eventually, possibly on city-owned land in the Bernal Community Park. The police building was renovated and a 20,000-square-foot addition was built 10 years ago.
The council's action, based on an a poll of councilmembers during an informal workshop meeting with members of the library commission, came after a report on three studies that now have been completed on the potential redevelopment of the Civic Center and library buildings on Old Bernal Avenue, Main Street and Bernal Avenue. Although no construction funds have been appropriated, the council did agree to spend $45,000 to refine the study by the consulting firm of Field Paoli that is recommending that Pleasanton proceed with the project.
Also included in the council's action was authorization for City Manager Nelson Fialho and others to re-start negotiations with the city and county of San Francisco to acquire a vacant 3.3-acre site between Old Bernal Avenue and the Union Pacific railroad tracks that at one time Pleasanton thought it could buy for $500,000. San Francisco now is asking $3.5 million for the property.
Pleasanton officials thought they had a "deal" on the land with San Francisco's then Mayor Willie Brown as part of an acquisition agreement between Greenbriar Homes and its partners with the city and county of San Francisco for the 510-acre Bernal property that it had owned since the 1930s. As part of the $126-million purchase agreement, Greenbriar donated 318 acres on Bernal to the city of Pleasanton in exchange for being allowed to build 510 homes and apartments on the rest of the property. At the time, South Bay Development Company also acquired 39 acres along the I-680 border of the property and Pleasanton was to pay $500,000 for the extra 3.3-acre site. Somehow, the 3.3-acre purchase agreement was never include in the final contract.
Expanding the library and rebuilding at least part of the civic center site has long been a priority of the City Council although never at the top of the list. Now that other capital improvement projects have been completed and with the last of the current list -- the $10-million Firehouse Arts Center -- nearing completion, the council is expected to move these two new projects to the top when it considers priorities in early 2010.
The problem will be that the council, at the recommendation of Fialho and Finance Director Dave Culver, has halted all new capital projects for the duration of the economic downturn. No one is predicting when city revenues will start growing again.
Also, the full development of the Bernal Community Park, another project that could also cost $70 million or more and was approved by voters two years ago, would be completed before the library and civic center projects unless the council shifts its pending priorities.
The council considered building a new City Hall and expanding the library in 2001 as part of a Downtown Specific Plan developed that year, but the two projects have never been top priorities. Since then, funding has gone toward building Callippe Preserve Golf Course, the Alviso Adobe Community Park, restoring the Veterans Memorial Building and Kottinger Creek, and now building the Firehouse Arts Center.
The decision to again move forward on both the civic center and library expansion projects follows a new study by Kathryn Page Associates, a library planning firm, that the public library is woefully short of space in serving Pleasanton, where the population has grown from 44,600 when the library was opened to nearly 70,000 today, more than a 50 percent increase.
Originally a branch of the Alameda County Library, the city took over operation of the library in 1999, increased financial support and raised library service levels at a time when Alameda County was cutting back on hours of operation and inventory.
"In fact, the library built by the county was significantly cut in size late in the process and was under-built at the time," said Julie Farnsworth, library director.
The study found that the library that has served the community since it was built in 1988 has stayed the same since it became a city-owned and operated public library. Before 1988, the public library was located where the Gingerbread School is now operating in Amador Community Park, and was in a trailer before that.
Circulation of materials at the library has increased 78 percent, topping 1.4 million items last year. Shelving capacity at the library has now been reached at 2.7 million volumes, with a 62 percent net increase in the overall collection size needed to meet the projected needs for Pleasanton in 2030.
Programming for children, families and adults also is lagging. Since 1999, annual attendance at library programs has grown from 5,393 to more than 30,000 people. The library's reader seat capacity is now 140 whereas a total of 364 is recommended by the consultants.
"This is the time to build the new library," said Library Commissioner Valerie Arkin. "Federal stimulus dollars might become available for projects like this and these need to be shovel-ready projects. That's why I would like to see city staff directed to get this project shovel-ready now."
"Our downtown is experiencing challenging times right now and this could help," she added. "Making a new library a reality is the right thing to do."
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