Lack of Parking to Be Addressed Later : Town Center Chosen for Planned Penasquitos Library

Libraries should be built in the center of things, where youngsters and oldsters can visit on foot, city planning commissioners unanimously decided Thursday in voting to put a proposed library in the Rancho Penasquitos Town Centre.

An alternate library site on the rim of Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve was championed by city librarian Bill Sannwald, who pointed out that parking in the commercial center would be nearly impossible, but commissioners decided to solve that problem later.

No Debate Over Need

Though nearly all of Rancho Penasquitos’ 33,000 residents favor construction of a larger library for the community, the issue of where the building should go has split the San Diego suburb for nearly two years, since Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer proposed the alternate site on city open space at the preserve’s edge.

The issue won’t be settled until the City Council makes the final ruling at a hearing expected to be held before April 1.

Newland California, a major Penasquitos developer, has promised to donate the 1.5-acre town center site for the library if a site decision is made by April 1. If not, the land will be granted to the YMCA for parking for its proposed building and day-care center, the developer said.

The alternate site, half a mile south of the town center, drew opposition from some nearby residents because of added noise and traffic it would bring. It was also opposed by some environmentalists, who felt that the site was part of the canyon preserve and that the library would set a precedent for further intrusion.

Sannwald conceded that the town center was more accessible for pedestrians and motorists, but he stressed that an earlier approval of the YMCA building meant that there would not be adequate parking for either facility.

The alternate site, near Calle de las Rosas and Salmon River Road, contains 5.3 acres, adequate for the library, parking and natural landscaping to tie the library in with the preserve.

Matter of Convenience

Commissioner Lynn Benn echoed the comments of several planning board members when she commented that the library should be near schools and elderly housing so residents without cars can reach it on foot.

“There are many latchkey children nowadays, and they should have positive places to go after school,” Benn said.

Kathleen Zaworski-Burke, a Penasquitos activist, said the community “desperately needs both the library and the Y.” She argued that the remaining vacant land within the town center could not accommodate the space needs of both ventures. She favored relocating the library to the canyon rim as the best solution for the situation, which, she said, resulted from “poor planning.”

City planner Mike Westlake said his department favored the town site because putting the library on the canyon would harm the neighborhood by increasing density, raising traffic to 38% over rated street capacity and damaging the view with grading on the canyon rim.