MORGAN HILL
– Despite being shut out of state grant awards for the second
time, Morgan Hill may get a bigger library after all.
MORGAN HILL – Despite being shut out of state grant awards for the second time, Morgan Hill may get a bigger library after all.
A workshop Wednesday, called to look at the distribution of remaining Redevelopment Agency funds, turned into a brainstorming session on how to replace or add to the current library and where the city might find the money.
The current 14,000 square-foot building was built to serve a population of 7,000, now grown to 39,000.
City Council members, acting as RDA directors, heard from an audience mostly dedicated to library expansion, many of whom offered ideas on funding, construction or site choice.
Council built on audience suggestions with some of its own and ended the session by naming Councilman Steve Tate and Mayor Dennis Kennedy to a Library Subcommittee to report back in January.
A suggestion to scrap the indoor recreation center proposed for land east of Community Park on West Edmundson Avenue and use the money for a library was deemed impossible.
However, council will consider expanding the library in phases, scaling down plans for the $21 million building on the DeWitt Avenue empty lot behind City Hall and the current library.
Council also wants to take another look at sites because, Kennedy said, site has a big effect on cost. A 40,000-square-foot building costing $21 million equals $525 per square-foot.
“That is extremely expensive,” Kennedy said. “With some proper work, building less, being creative and looking at another site – possibly the corporation yard – we might be able to do both, (the IRC and the library).”
The DeWitt Avenue site is so expensive to build on, Library Commissioner Chuck Dillmann said, because of its slope, a high water table and the need to move underground utilities. It was originally chosen because the site is close to several schools, considered a plus in the state grant application.
Quiet neighborhoods as locations for libraries are no longer favored by the Santa Clara County Library, which pays for operation and maintenance.
“We mainly care about visibility and accessibility,” said Sarah Flowers, a Morgan Hill resident who is also deputy county librarian. “Plenty of room for on-site parking, of course, and ideally, the library would be near other local destinations – shops, restaurants, etc.”
