This past November, the citizens of San Mateo approved a $35 million bond measure for the construction of a new main library and improvements to the City’s branch libraries.
The ideal site for the new library would accommodate a 90,000 square foot, three-story library, with two levels of underground parking.
The New Library Committee is headed by current Councilmember Paul Gumbinger and includes nine other members.
The new library comes at a time with increased public demand for library space and more parking. The library currently has 49 spaces for the 8,000 people who visit the library every week. The library reports that the lack of parking has been the largest complaint.
“The bond measure was approved by 72 percent of the voters,” City Librarian K.G. Ouye said. “There is a lot of support for this in the community.”
The building is also not handicap accessible. According to the American Disability Association, aisle widths in the library should be 36 inches wide and, as of now, only the children’s section meets this requirement.
Ouye said there was an accident in the library recently and the paramedics could not fit their stretchers in the elevator.
“When the building was built 30 years ago, it wasn’t very well designed,” Ouye said. “Only eight years after it was build, it became too crowded.”
Ouye said it is not cost effective to renovate the building and its 30 year-old equipment.
Since the building is concrete, it’s hard to update it for electronics and do all the re-wiring for the Internet,” Ouye said.
The library will either be 86,000 or 90,000 square feet, depending on whether the neighboring Bank of America will agree to allow the new library to use a small portion of its property.
“We are talking with the Bank of America to see if we can use the first row of its parking lot to build on,” Ouye said. “[If they agree] the B of A will share underground parking with the library.”
If the bank does agree, the larger library will require an additional bond from the state. The Library Committee will apply for the $20 million state bond, which it will use in addition to the $35 million bond from the city and the $10 million raised by the Downtown Association.
Currently there is no date set for the new library’s completion. Pauline Mingram, the library operations manager, said the completion is contingent on the bond measure from the state.
According to Mingram, the library will most likely be completed in three to four years.
The committee received qualifications from ten architects and cut it down to five who will be submitting requests Friday. The committee’s next private meeting on August 23 will look at which architect will be selected for the job. The Library Board of Trustees and staff members of the city and library will be making the decision along with the committee.
The New Library Committee meets biweekly on Wednesdays in the Art and Lecture Room in the main library. The next public meeting is Wednesday September 27 at 7 p.m.
Patti Labelle will be performing a benefit concert at Bay Meadows on September 23 and all proceeds will go to the building of the new library.
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