Gilroy city planners are considering the possibility of using
library bond money to build a $3.7 million parking garage to
accommodate parking for the city’s new library project.
Gilroy city planners are considering the possibility of using library bond money to build a $3.7 million parking garage to accommodate parking for the city’s new library project.
However, City Council members made it clear this week they do not want that to happen.
“If this council ever wants to go before the public again asking for bond money, we better not spend money on projects like this that we hadn’t planned for,” said Councilman Bob Dillon, who sits on the city’s ad-hoc library committee.
City Engineer Rick Smelser stressed a parking garage is one alternative for coping with the traffic that a new library would bring.
The city’s Civic Center Master Plan, which was approved about 10 years ago, calls for 3.33 spaces per 1,000 square feet. Smelser said Wednesday the ratio is a standard figure based on studies of similar projects in other communities.
Proposed parking areas at Dowdy and West Sixth Street and on Rosanna Street just north of Wheeler Community Center would provide 103 new parking spaces, or 3.31 spaces per 1,000 square feet.
The Dowdy Street lot, which would provide 81 parking spots, would require the demolition of a five homes.
By building a parking garage, the city may be able to avoid developing the Dowdy Street lot for now, Smelser said, although he said the area would remain within the Civic Center Master Plan and may eventually be used.
Dillon said Wednesday that city staff have considered taking the homes for the Dowdy Street lot through legal means. However, he said he and other members of the library ad-hoc library committee oppose doing so.
Still, he questioned whether the city needed as many spaces as city officials have claimed.
“People come to the library on a transient basis,” he said. “They’re in and out in 20 minutes.
He stressed he did not want to spend any money from Measure F, the $37 million library bond that Gilroy voters approved in 2008.
“I don’t see the parking garage happening,” he said.
Councilman Dion Bracco, who also sits on the library ad-hoc committee, said not all of the parking spaces in the Civic Center area are being used all the time as it is. That area includes City Hall, the police station and the senior center. Bracco also felt city staff should be encouraged to get to work through means other than cars.
“If we’re truly moving toward being a green city, then we should promote riding bikes to work and walking to work for city employees,” he said. “Not everyone should have a car there.”
Smelser stressed the city must consider parking needs for the entire civic center area, not just for individual buildings such as the library or City Hall.
Smelser said he hopes to meet with the council again to discuss the subject in the near future. The city has a couple of years to address the issue, he said.
“We haven’t made any final plans yet,” Smelser said. “We’re still looking at all options.”
