Library plans: Voters should make decision

There are enough residents in Santa Cruz who oppose the location and scope of a proposed multi-use library project that the matter should be put to a vote.

Which is what will happen in November.

In past Editorials in this space, we noted the community divisions over two matters: the plans for proceeding with plans for a commuter rail line along with a contiguous recreational trail on the county-owned coastal corridor, and the plans to move the central, downtown library to a new location that would include affordable housing and a parking garage..

Both, we said, needed to come before voters.

The rail-trail proposals just did – and backers of a plan that would make the trail the main priority and put future rail plans at least on a temporary hold saw their ballot measure suffer a resounding rejection county wide.

The library plans now may be headed for a similar fate, if community responses within the city of Santa Cruz are any indication of the will of a majority of voters.

To understand the opposition, go back to 2016's tax Measure S, approved by voters countywide, that provided for $67 million in bonds to “modernize, upgrade and repair local libraries in Santa Cruz, Aptos, Live Oak, Scotts Valley, Boulder Creek, Capitola, Felton and La Selva Beach ... and construct/ expand facilities where necessary.”

But since that vote, the devil has towered over the details.

Rather than renovate the public library in its present Civic Center location, the city, backed by a number of past and present leaders, developed plans to construct a new library on a parcel known as Lot 4, downtown at the corner of Cedar and Cathcart streets, which is home to the Farmers Market.

This project, as it has developed over the years, would also include a 310-space parking garage, and around 120 affordable housing units.

Needless to say, almost since its inception, the “multi-use” library project has engendered intense opposition, which coalesced under an organized group, Downtown Our Future.

Earlier this month, the county clerk certified a petition created by this group for a ballot measure that, if approved will stop the city from the current plans to build a new public library, parking garage and housing on the lot that currently hosts the weekly Farmers Market. The current library would remain at its Church Street location.

Downtown Our Future wants to preserve Lot 4 and its trees with a goal of creating a future “Downtown Commons” green space. The group also seeks to “prioritize” affordable housing on other city-owned lots, including Front Street's

Lot 7 and to use parking revenue “saved from not building an unnecessary garage” for this housing and to supplement Measure S funds to pay for renovation of the Church Street library.

Advocates for the project say opponents are familiar NIMBYs whose true aim is to stop the parking portion of the project, and would kill off years of planning for affordable housing with no expertise in creating this housing at alternative sites.

Without going into the suitability of the proposed locations for housing, much less the need for more downtown parking (all of which will be intensely debated before the November vote), we don't doubt the motives of backers of the multi-use project to create a modern library, add to muchneeded affordable housing stock and to anticipate future downtown parking needs.

But if they had plans for such a project underway in 2016 when Measure S was on the ballot, opponents would not have felt misled or ignored.

A couple of notes on ballot measures seeking to reverse or overturn city or county planned projects: A decade before the Measure D vote, opposition to a proposed city desalination plant led to a ballot measure that essentially killed desal.

We also see the June 7 primary vote on a proposed increase in the sales tax in the city of Santa Cruz continues to trail in votes – a result that, if the trend continues, could be attributed to a lack of trust among voters who felt mislead by post-Measure S plans.

At this point, only a new vote on library plans will start to end the divisions.