GILROY
– Instead of sighs of relief, city officials and library
supporters breathed sighs of disappointment Monday over
long-awaited news on a major state library grant.
GILROY – Instead of sighs of relief, city officials and library supporters breathed sighs of disappointment Monday over long-awaited news on a major state library grant.
After months of finger-crossing, Gilroy officials learned their $11.4 million grant application to construct a new city library didn’t receive any of the $138 million in funding doled out Monday by the state’s library construction board.
But no one is giving up the ship on getting a share of the state money just yet. Officials were still hopeful and optimistic today that the city will fare well in a second round of funding decisions to come next year, when state officials are due to distribute another $120 million in bond money.
Officials said Monday’s action by the California Public Library Construction and Renovation Board could mean months of delay in the start of construction to replace the city’s aging, overcrowded facility.
Still, Mayor Tom Springer called Monday’s news a “minor setback,” noting that the city still has a strong grant application that should fare well in the second round.
“We’re sorry we didn’t get it this time around, but we’re determined to continue for the second round,” Springer said. “We have a very high rating and believe we have a very good chance of getting it in the second round …
“We’ll try to improve the application if we need to, keep a positive outlook and keep our hopes up that we’ll get it this time around based on community need.”
At the moment, Gilroy’s hopes for funding much of its planned new 52,000-square-foot, $18.4 million facility hinge largely on the grant application to the state.
Proposition 14, passed by voters in 2000, authorized the state to use bonds for public library construction. At least 56 communities have asked for a share of the $350 million pot of state funding that resulted, including Gilroy and also Morgan Hill, where officials hoped to land $13 million for their own new library.
But both proposals by the South County cities were denied funding Monday. The state board awarded funds to projects that were ranked “outstanding” by state library staff. Both Gilroy and Morgan Hill’s proposals were ranked in a second tier of grant proposals that were ranked “very good.”
Although $19 million still remains in first-round funding to be doled out by Christmas, City Librarian Lani Yoshimura – who drove to Sacramento to attend Monday’s afternoon hearing by the state board – said the city probably won’t secure a share of that money.
Instead, Yoshimura said the city will likely focus on reapplying for the second round. Applications for that round are due in March 2003. Some $90 million more is due to be distributed in a third round of funding to come later.
“My sense is we will probably not be in the running for that ($19) million, but we did really well,” she said. “Our application had some good comments, and some other people had some dings …”
The vast majority of the city’s application should stay the same, although the city and county may make some changes based on a pending 15-page analysis it will receive from state officials, said Acting County Librarian Julie Farnsworth.
“Once we know that, we’ll know if there’s some fine-tuning we need to do,” she said.
However, both Springer, Yoshimura and Farnsworth have expressed confidence in the quality of the city’s application.
Officials have pointed out that the square-foot-per-person ratio at Gilroy’s circa-1975, 12,800-square-foot facility is among the worst in the county.
The facility reportedly packs in over a third more items than it was designed for and has had to reduce seating capacity by nearly 40 percent in recent years to accommodate new items and technology.
Springer said Gilroy also has an advantage because the city has agreed to fund a portion of the construction. The city has committed to pay for 35 percent of the new facility’s cost through local sources, including possibly up to $2 million from the county library system. The rest would come from impact fees the city has placed on new development.
“I think we have a really good application,” Yoshimura said. “There are just so many people applying and the needs are so great.”
Although it’s unclear how exact dates will play out, Springer said Tuesday that Monday’s action by the state board probably means a delay of half a year to a year on the start of construction.
Even if the city received first-round funding, city building officials had already expected additional review required by the library board would have pushed out the potential start of construction from next spring to possibly the end of next year.
“It’s a minor setback,” Springer said. “If we don’t succeed in the second round, we may have some serious rethinking to do. But right now we should be optimistic.”
