|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
An offer by local philanthropist and billionaire developer John Arrillaga to help rebuild Menlo Park’s main library would upend current staff and council priorities and could strain the city financially as it attempts to come up with at least $20 million as quickly as possible, according to city staff.
Mr. Arrillaga has offered to foot the rest of the bill after the first $20 million plus ancillary costs the city would bear; he would help oversee the development and construction of the building.
Current estimates for the project have grown as high as $55 million for a 48,000-square-foot library with underground parking, according to the staff report.
The City Council is scheduled to discuss the matter at its meeting Aug. 22, which begins 7 p.m. at the Menlo Park City Council Chambers at 701 Laurel St. in the Menlo Park Civic Center. Access the agenda here or watch the meeting online here.
The council is expected to discuss and possibly act on six staff recommendations, which include changing the council’s current work plan to accommodate the library rebuilding project, authorizing the hiring of a full-time manager to “provide for the ability to augment existing management personnel to oversee construction” of the library, and expanding the city manager’s authority to award contracts.
Staff has also asked for $1 million from the city’s general fund’s unassigned balance to jumpstart work on the project.
The council, on a 4-0 vote last month, endorsed the acceptance of Mr. Arrillaga’s funding offer, moving a project that the council just in March indicated was not a high priority to the front burner.
The next step for the project will be to pick the site for the new library. The area now under consideration includes the current library, the council chambers and the children’s center.
If the council accepts staff recommendations, public meetings and surveys would be conducted, with a goal of having the council pick the site and start the environmental review process next January. The draft environmental documents would be released in October 2018, and be cleared by various commissions and the council in January 2019. From there, the goal would be to get the building permit by May 2019 and start construction the next month.
Meanwhile, the city has just released a request for proposals to conduct a needs assessment of the Belle Haven branch library, currently housed on the Belle Haven Elementary School campus.
Lingering questions conditioned the city’s Finance and Audit Committee’s recommendations on how to best come up with $20 million.
Among them: Which party will be expected to bear the “soft costs” of the project, which include things such as consultants and furniture, and could mean greater costs for the city? Will the project require a full environmental impact review (EIR) or a simpler environmental review process? The simpler process could streamline a one-year process to four to six months and ease staff and consultant costs, but can be done only if no major negative environmental effects are expected to result from the project, according to staff.
Among the committee’s suggested options are for the city to sell some of its assets, such as its water utility; to use its unassigned fund balance; to borrow the $20 million using a 30-year fixed-interest rate bond, which would likely end up with a $24.34 million debt-service cost; and to look into a line of credit.
Ideas to generate funds also included increasing the hotel tax, drawing from city reserves, and setting up a “community amenity fund” that would earmark new revenues for community improvements, according to the report.
To ensure that there’s sufficient staff time to devote to the project, staff has recommended that a long list of projects be delayed or downgraded on the priority list. Those projects include: making changes to the city’s zoning ordinance that are part of the city’s plan to deal with its housing shortage, finishing its Water System Master Plan, continuing to develop a number of emergency water supply wells, working on developing a transportation management association downtown or in Menlo Park east of U.S. 101, and conducting a study on ways to deal with cut-through traffic and keep kids traveling to school through the Willows neighborhood safe.
Early reactions
Councilman Peter Ohtaki expressed support for the project in an interview.
“If you look at the needs assessment, there is certainly a need for a 21st century library,” he said, referring to a study released in March that was funded by the Menlo Park Library Foundation and focused on the Menlo Park Library’s main branch. “I do think that the community does want us to find a way to be able to not only do a new library, but to be able to address the library needs in Belle Haven – and other potential needs.”
He said the city should have a long-term strategic plan for its capital projects and expects that conversation to happen alongside ones about how to make Mr. Arrillaga’s proposed contribution work for the city.
Councilman Ray Mueller, who was absent from the meeting when Mr. Arrillaga’s offer was endorsed, said he was leaning “strongly” against the staff recommendations. He said he had concerns about the amount of staff time that would be taken away from other projects and the amount of money it would cost the city. The city already has a functioning library, he noted, while other priority projects for the city, such as upgraded Belle Haven facilities and a downtown parking garage, would remain unfunded.
“If we pull together resources to upgrade an already functioning library, where are we going to find the money to make facility improvements in Belle Haven?” he asked.
“While I think it would be a wonderful idea to have a new library, I don’t know, priority-wise, (that) it makes sense to go ahead with that project,” he said. “I think we have a course we’re on that we need to stay on.”
Councilwoman Catherine Carlton said she was on the Parks and Recreation Commission when Mr. Arrillaga’s previous Civic Center projects (the Arrillaga Family Gymnastics Center, Recreation Center and Gymnasium) were approved, and asserted that, although Mr. Arrillaga has strong opinions on aspects of the buildings he takes on, the public process would not be affected by his influence. “We will absolutely want input from users,” she said. “We will always go through the public process.”
Were it up to her, she said, a Belle Haven library would come first. But when someone offers to give $40 million (a rough estimate of the anticipated cost of the library beyond the initial $20 million-plus), she said, “Of course we will sit down and discuss it.”
“We are going to do both libraries,” she said. “Potentially this helps us free up funds to do the Belle Haven library more quickly as well.”
Councilman Rich Cline said he wants the decision to be weighed against the city’s pipeline for capital improvement projects. “I think there are ways for everyone to win, but we’ll see. Just because we have a gracious offer for one library redevelopment, it does not mean the Belle Haven library is at conflict. It may help both but we need staff and data to determine that in a meeting. I am tiring of (a) trained reflex by some to constantly pit (Belle Haven) against other parts of (Menlo Park).”
Kirsten Keith could not be reached for comment for this story.
Most Popular
Guest opinion: For Menlo Park's Measure P or not for P, that is the questionOctober 4, 2026 11:02 am
This is insane. The city doesn’t have the money, and this wasn’t a priority until John Arrillaga stepped up with this conditional “gift.” For once, can’t our City Council please just say NO? There’s too much building and development going on as it is. Let’s put our public dollars to work sensibly and equitably, i.e. on the Belle Haven branch expansion and other worthy projects, rather than a willy-nilly mad dash to break ground on a hastily-conceived main branch (which we don’t need, anyway) just to use John Arrillaga’s money. Odds are he’ll be back; lord knows he loves putting his name on things.
It takes real audacity to put two items that support such disparate treatment of the East side and the West side of Menlo Park on the same agenda and particularly since the Belle Haven library issue is agendized as an information only item which probably precludes the Council from taking any action on that issue.
Will the Belle Haven residents tolerate this blatant injustice?
Recall?
Completely agree with Peter Carpenter. Menlo Park clearly is corrupted by Arrillaga’s generous offer… even though they need money desperately it’s still wrong to prioritized one project over another. Shame on you, Menlo Park.
I know where the City will try to find the extra 30 million for this unnecessary project….
Please send your comments about the Main Library project directly to City Council (city.council@menlopark.org). Whether you are for or against the project, please be civically engaged and give your input to City Council. My email to City Council is below:
Dear City Council Members,
As a concerned citizen of Menlo Park, I strongly urge you to graciously turn down Mr. Arrillaga’s current library offer. While free money is tempting to accept, please consider the following:
In addition to the other consequences of accepting Mr. Arrillaga’s proposal outlined in the Staff Report, pursuing the library project at this time puts Menlo Park’s kids in continued danger. In order for staff capacity to be created for the unanticipated library project, at least two major Safe Routes-related projects will need to be further postponed. The Willows Complete Streets (aka Laurel Safe Routes Study) and the Middlefield/Ringwood/Ravenswood improvement project will be pushed back. Every day kids traveling to and from our City’s schools contend with dangerous street conditions. How can we take on a nice-to-have library project when children’s safety (and that of all of ours in town) is “postponed”?
What does it say about our City’s values that we are willing to add more staff to our City’s payroll to respond to a billionaire, but we are not willing to do so to address our transportation and Safe Routes issues? If Menlo Park is willing to increase staff capacity (which I think is absolutely needed), shouldn’t we use that added capacity to address issues that are really affecting the day to day lives of our town’s citizens instead of fast tracking a replacement to our currently adequate library?
The process and speed that this project is demanding are troubling.
– A new main library was not a City priority until this offer was presented.
– One City Council meeting was held to consider the offer. This City Council meeting took place in the middle of summer and many of the members of public who spoke on the topic were concerned that the main library would be funded and pursued before the Belle Haven library was improved. From what I witnessed, there was no overwhelming mandate from the citizens of Menlo Park to pursue the project. Most of the residents who spoke either lived in Belle Haven or were affiliated with the library in some way. Did you receive feedback from other residents of Menlo Park if they wanted to pursue this project? Did they understand the trade-offs associated with the acceptance of this proposal?
– The Staff Report recommends increasing the City Manager’s contract award authority from $66k to $250k. Considering that City Council must approve many changes around town (see consent calendars), how is it that oversight will be waived for this huge project?
– The Staff Report recommends initially taking $1 million from the General Fund’s unassigned fund balance without looking at other possible uses for that money. There is no consideration of what other projects could be pursued with $20 million. The library project is being evaluated in a vacuum.
– While “community input” will be solicited to share and seek some information/feedback about the project, it is the pursuit of the project itself that should have undergone significant community input.
Furthermore, the Staff Report mentions that there are significant staff vacancies in the Public Works Department. What impact does the constant re-prioritizing of projects have, not only on our town’s ability to complete important previously prioritized initiatives, but also on staff morale?
The proposal from Mr. Arrillaga is tempting, but it is not something that should be pursued without a thoughtful consideration of the trade-offs and sacrifices that it entails. What good would a state-of-the-art library do if most of us in Menlo Park are unable to visit it because we are stuck in traffic? Wouldn’t we rather have the ability to bike, walk and drive safely to our existing library, rather than have a fancy building that no one can get to safely?
Menlo Park is currently experiencing a transportation and housing crisis. The only library crisis facing our community is in Belle Haven. To spend City resources on a nice-to-have main library is to ignore the true needs of our community. We don’t need a fancy new library right now. We need safe streets. We need more affordable housing. We need social justice.
Please do the right thing. Please consider this proposal at the proper time and place. If updating the main library, at this level, is truly needed, the community will let you know and we will find a way. Please don’t let a seductive proposition guide our town.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Jen Wolosin
Menlo Park Resident
Let’s hope Ray Mueller can bring this Council to it’s senses.
What good is a great library if the children don’t have safe streets to get there? Safety of our kids should be the #1 issue!
In a world where we increasingly use online materials.
is this REALLY a good use of the $20-30Million the city would need to spend. not to mention ongoing financial support?
The city has diminishing financial resources and faces a looming pension deficit.
in addition we DESPERATELY need a downtown parking structure to support the businesses there. I would rather see the city spend it’s moeny on that than another obsolete facility.
“In a world where we increasingly use online materials.
is this REALLY a good use of the $20-30Million the city would need to spend. not to mention ongoing financial support?”
Absolutely not, especially given the strings attached.
I haven’t had a need to go to the library in at least 15 years. Pretty much everything one wants to read is available SOMEWHERE on the internet. As time goes on, libraries will become less and less necessary. Libraries already are, and have been, scanning books into electronic form and making them available on line. Libraries of the future (if they even exist) will be small buildings with computer carrels for people with no internet to access books that are digital.
This is an absurd idea. Money was not budgeted for is this project and it puts other priorities in jeopardy. What good is yearly planning to keep the city healthy financially if you don’t follow it. Furthermore the current library is still very functional and large enough. Parking is limited now because of the new gymnasium that was built a few years back right next door so both use the same parking area. To funnel money away from other areas of need is foolish and selfish by our council. Meanwhile the Belle Haven neighbors go without improvements in their own library and our streets continue to look like parking lots. Cmon Council lets not fix something thats not broken.