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| Council pushes partnership for West Side library |
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| Written by John Saiz / Patterson Irrigator | |
| Saturday, 22 December 2007 | |
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Patterson City Council expressed enthusiasm Tuesday about teaming up with the Yosemite Community College District for a new Patterson library. The council directed city staff to continue talks with the college district, which oversees Modesto Junior College and Columbia College in Sonora, and with Stanislaus County about a possible West Side library and community college facility. The council hopes the talks will pave the way for a 30,000-square-foot building that would be shared by the county, city and college district. “Anything to get more books in the city of Patterson,” Councilwoman Annette Smith said. Early talks have identified land close to the Patterson Aquatic Center as a possible location. The city also plans to build a senior center, a community center and possibly a skate park at that location, though funding for most of those projects has not been secured. The opportunity for this project came about after negotiations between the college district and a developer fell through. The district had been looking into building a campus on 40 acres off Sperry Avenue near Baldwin Road that the developer said he would donate. After lengthy negotiations, the district started looking at other options in October. Eventually, the district, county and city started kicking around the idea of teaming up to bring both an interim campus and new library to the West Side. City Manager Cleve Morris has been involved in the talks, and relayed to the council what has been happening so far. Early plans are for a $10 million joint-use facility. The county and city would use 10,000 square feet for a West Side library. Patterson’s current library is close to 5,600 square feet. The district would use the remaining 20,000 square feet. The district would end up moving out of the facility when it managed to get build a satellite campus. The district hopes by having some facilities in Patterson, it can attract 1,000 West Side students, which would make it qualify for state funding. As for the estimated $10 million to build the Patterson facility, one idea that’s been tossed around is that the college district fund it, and the city and county lease the building from the district. Eventually, the city and county would take over the building. The district has about $5 million from a bond passed by California voters that could go to the facility. However, one man in the audience warned against using that money. Patterson Planning Commissioner Luis Molina, who previously served on the college district’s bond oversight committee, said that money should be used for a larger campus and not be burned away during this project. The only concerns council members raised were about the conflicts that often occur with a joint-use facility. Still, they were very optimistic about the proposal and directed staff to continue discussions. “I feel strongly … joint uses are a big plus,” Morris said.
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