ARTICLE
A few months back, we wrote about the ongoing discussion on the future of the Downtown Mixed-Use Library Project. You can read that article here: https://web.santacruzchamber.org/news/newsarticledisplay.aspx?ArticleID=1928 This storyline today is to provide an update on the progress of the project to date. Yes, despite a signature gathering effort to place an initiative on the November ballot, the City staff, an architect design team and an affordable housing developer are moving forward on this mixed-use project. The City Council received a brief update at its council meeting on Tuesday. For those of you who like to observe city government in action the video is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10JYYpngOEj9L7Jlk_uea1Be0gSijVstC/view The staff report updated the architect design renderings, provided the City Council with a roadmap on community outreach, financial resources secured to date, as well as other grant funding sources for which the City has submitted applications to state agencies. As you can see, these designs show a very different (and more appealing look) than what was previously a quick snapshot graphic some two years ago — before the City Council approved the contract with Jayson Architecture. These images have been provided by the Jayson Architecture team. They are the most current iteration of the project design (still being refined). They show two versions of the elevation along Cedar Street, between Lincoln and Cathcart: two-story light-filled library with second-floor rooftop outdoor space (upper right), and multistory affordable housing visible behind the library. When I was a resident in another beach town in southern California, the City of Manhattan Beach had an old dreary box-shaped library structure that was built in the 1950s. The City Library was part of a Los Angeles County library system where the participating cities revitalized their old buildings. Similar to what we have in Santa Cruz, the City of Manhattan Beach Library had outlived its usefulness and students and seniors who used the library on a regular basis constantly complained that the cold, dark interior was not a conducive space to read and study. It took some doing but after years of community engagement a design revitalized the City’s downtown library adjacent to a parking structure and across the street from housing. Take a look at their final library that provides an open-air feeling with glass walls that face the Pacific Ocean. It is a stunning design (above). Here in Santa Cruz, we are on a course that will create a modern mixed-use library for the next generation in our downtown. We can and we must move forward.
A few months back, we wrote about the ongoing discussion on the future of the Downtown Mixed-Use Library Project. You can read that article here: https://web.santacruzchamber.org/news/newsarticledisplay.aspx?ArticleID=1928
This storyline today is to provide an update on the progress of the project to date. Yes, despite a signature gathering effort to place an initiative on the November ballot, the City staff, an architect design team and an affordable housing developer are moving forward on this mixed-use project. The City Council received a brief update at its council meeting on Tuesday. For those of you who like to observe city government in action the video is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10JYYpngOEj9L7Jlk_uea1Be0gSijVstC/view
The staff report updated the architect design renderings, provided the City Council with a roadmap on community outreach, financial resources secured to date, as well as other grant funding sources for which the City has submitted applications to state agencies. As you can see, these designs show a very different (and more appealing look) than what was previously a quick snapshot graphic some two years ago — before the City Council approved the contract with Jayson Architecture. These images have been provided by the Jayson Architecture team. They are the most current iteration of the project design (still being refined). They show two versions of the elevation along Cedar Street, between Lincoln and Cathcart: two-story light-filled library with second-floor rooftop outdoor space (upper right), and multistory affordable housing visible behind the library.
When I was a resident in another beach town in southern California, the City of Manhattan Beach had an old dreary box-shaped library structure that was built in the 1950s. The City Library was part of a Los Angeles County library system where the participating cities revitalized their old buildings. Similar to what we have in Santa Cruz, the City of Manhattan Beach Library had outlived its usefulness and students and seniors who used the library on a regular basis constantly complained that the cold, dark interior was not a conducive space to read and study.
It took some doing but after years of community engagement a design revitalized the City’s downtown library adjacent to a parking structure and across the street from housing. Take a look at their final library that provides an open-air feeling with glass walls that face the Pacific Ocean. It is a stunning design (above).
Here in Santa Cruz, we are on a course that will create a modern mixed-use library for the next generation in our downtown. We can and we must move forward.