Panel Backs New Library by City Hall

With an eye toward creating a public “hub” for the city, a San Diego City Council committee Wednesday voted unanimously to place a new, $40-million to $54-million central library at the city-owned Community Concourse adjacent to City Hall.

The 5-0 vote by the council’s Public Services and Safety Committee followed the recommendations of the City Manager’s office and the Centre City Development Corporation, which early this year chose the concourse location from among five proposed sites identified by the council.

The proposed seven-story structure with 55,000 square feet of ground-floor space would be constructed where the Golden Hall convention facility now stands, and would take at least seven years to complete, said Gerald Trimble, the CCDC’s executive director.

“It’s obvious that the Community Concourse is the best site,” he added,

Councilman Mike Gotch echoed the enthusiasm of Trimble and other members of the committee. “The library should be in the hub of the city,” said Gotch, who has championed the concourse location from the beginning. “I support this recommendation. The enhancement of the government center downtown should be the thrust of our efforts. We’re on the right track making this an integral part of our civic center.”

The final decision on the location of the library--and the financing mechanisms necessary to build it --will be decided by the entire City Council. The council is to vote on the site later this month. But each of the five members of the Public Services and Safety Committee--a majority of the nine-member council--expressed enthusiasm for the Community Concourse site, and encouraged city and CCDC officials to exhaustively explore methods by which private developers could participate in the construction, thus reducing the cost to the taxpayers.

The council also will consider other options about the library’s construction, including:

-Whether an election should be called in hopes that voters would approve a special tax for the library construction.

-Whether new city offices should be built in conjunction with the project.

-Whether there should be a design competition for architects hoping to build the facility.

The concourse met better than its rivals the four criterion the City Council said should be applied to the choice of a library site--a central location; a site of at least 60,000 square feet; proximity to public transportation and good parking facilities, and a location which, “because of its prominence, activities or size, lends dignity to the library function,” according to a CCDC/city manager report.

Its central location and potential to enhance the image of the library because of its proximity to City Hall and other government and cultural centers downtown were considered particularly attractive by officials evaluating the sites.

“The Community Concourse offers an excellent site for the library and the ‘found’ opportunity of combining needed city administrative space in the same structure,” the CCDC-city manager’s report said. “Location of the library as a part of the Community Concourse site would enhance the image of the library and the Community Concourse as governmental --cultural complex.”

The concourse also would attract a number of library visitors from surrounding downtown buildings, the report said. “This location is within walking distance of the business core, other governmental buildings and Horton Plaza retail center,” the report said. “The majority of downtown office workers are employed within a few blocks of the site and Horton Plaza is expected to generate many daily visitors to the center who may also use the library . . . the location of other cultural activities within blocks of this site creates a cultural environment which could enhance both the use and the image of the library.”

Other alternatives considered included City College, which was the second choice of CCDC and the city manager’s office, as well as several council members. The remaining options included expansion of the current library site at 820 E St., a parcel of land bounded between 14th and 15th streets bounded by C Street and Broadway, and property bounded by Broadway and E, Kettner and State streets. Ruled out in earlier discussions were locations in Mission Valley and the old Naval Hospital in Balboa Park.

There are two construction options for the new library should it be built at the Community Concourse, both involving destruction of the Golden Hall convention facility, which city officials have said would be obsolete upon completion of the new convention center.

The first option, with an estimated price tag of $40.8 million, calls for construction of a seven-story library building and a basement garage with a 200-car capacity. The second option, estimated to cost $54.1 million, would also add 165,000 square feet of city administration office space to the project.

Trimble said the library could be built without calling on private developers, either through a special tax, the sale of lease revenue bonds or other financing methods. But the council members were anxious to involve the private sector in the project.

“I would not want you at this point to foreclose on private sector participation,” Gotch said. “There are avenues that can be explored that can let the private sector participate and defray the cost to the public sector.”

“I really would like to see a long menu of financing options,” said Councilwoman Gloria McColl. “Creativity should be encouraged.”