25 years in the making: La Mesa puts pen to paper on a new Civic Center 

Expansion for the La Mesa Civic Center has been one step forward two attempts back for more than two decades However the city will be taking yet another step forward with a brand new City Hall and a resolution to expand the La Mesa Library According to an August Space Requirements Analysis the city expects to break ground on a brand-new city hall in spring with an anticipated opening date of spring The analysis concluded that the current facility built in does not help the growing city staff and modern standards Four city departments are in the present operating outside the single-story building working from two nearby trailers The library has been operating out of a temporary space since when the city tore down the old smaller library to build a new police station that is still in use currently In addition to a new two-story City Hall the analysis also blueprinted a parking structure residential apartments and an expansion of the library into the post office Delays are not part of the equation City Manager Greg Humora has become an expert on the -year history of Civic Center redevelopment and says delays are not part of the equation It s been going on for quite particular time and I m happy to tell the story Humora declared I know people get very passionate and concerned and it s never fast enough It s never fast enough for me either But there are initiatives that we have to go through Not everything is under our control And we re trying to make do as fast as we can and the city council has been super supportive Discussions on Civic Center facility limitations began in as outlined by a March master plan when the city began to evaluate space usage of abandoned buildings In Proposition D was passed in La Mesa which provided a million bond to upgrade the fire and police departments a massive overhaul A temporary fire station was built in the abandoned Helix Water District while a new station administrative building and Emergency Operations Center were constructed over the old fire department site A new temporary library was built nearby while the old smaller library was demolished and the new police department was built over it Due to state requirements slow contracts state county funding issues and developer partner lawsuits the affordable housing apartment building atop the old police site just opened for residents this past July a full years after the new police department opened Getting around to the city hall and library necessities While new facilities for the fire and police departments were completed in and respectively expansions and redevelopments for City Hall and the La Mesa Library are just now getting underway So it took us quite particular time to get back settled on our feet where we re able to get back working on the Civic Center this part of it Humora disclosed And so now we re on the next phase since all that other stuff is done and taken care of City Hall redevelopment is still in the planning phase with a projected cost of million and proposals to add more conference rooms meeting rooms bathrooms storage and office space The proposed Civic Center redevelopment map from page of the Space Requirements Analysis Photo courtesy HMC Architects The current plan also includes the relocation of the post office to a smaller attached space which would allow the library to expand into the post office space at this moment attached to their building This proposed relocation comes after the city council approved the library s expansion into the post office in the cheapest of three redevelopment outlines presented by the Library Task Force However the post office has not yet agreed to move and expansions for the library cannot begin until City Hall construction has been completed As a outcome the La Mesa Library locality is passionate about the subject yet grateful fo the city s transparency I appreciate the city s willingness to listen and to consider the idea of a larger library explained Sheila Dowe a volunteer at the Friends of La Mesa Library Bookstore And I would love for the library to be renovated at the same time like concurrently Because as it stands now the library will wait until the Civic Center I didn t know how old the Civic Center is but it would be great if we could have the library a little bit sooner Sheila Dowe has been volunteering at the Friends of the La Mesa Library Bookstore for five years Photo by Calista Stocker Times of San Diego As approved by the La Mesa City Council in a Library Task Force was created to explore expansion options for the library The Task Force concluded in early and presented its Library Demands Analysis and Library Feasibility Scrutiny to the City Council which outlined three prospective options for expansion In July the city council approved option number to renovate the interior library space and expand into the attached post office adding square feet At a price tag of nearly million this was the cheapest option compared to vertical expansion or the construction of a brand new library facility La Mesa Library gets solid traffic Given that the La Mesa Library is the fourth majority of visited library in San Diego County particular patrons are unhappy with the council s decision However Humora says that going back on the decision is unlikely unless the post office refuses relocation and the city council changes its mind Given the statistics we just heard that this is one of the preponderance used libraries in the whole county system why do we have to live with a second-hand kind of building and convert it to be a library Jack Shu requested at a Friends of the La Mesa Library area meeting I want a library that looks like a library with buildings and structures that are designed in that fashion because that s how libraries really work Not making a multi-purpose building converted into a library-type space which architecturally just doesn t work very well The La Mesa Library hosts a great number of accessible public events from daytime concerts to crafting but does not now have any assessment spaces district rooms or multipurpose rooms The La Mesa Library is consistently standing room only for events and multiple programs book out within an hour of registration opening due to lack of space revealed Leslie Stump co-chair of publicity and promotions for the Friends of La Mesa Library Particular programs and population partnerships have had to be turned away or postponed totally because the current facility cannot accommodate them While volunteer Dowe would love a new library she hopes that any expansion will bring these much-needed spaces I would love to get a bigger area for the bookstore she declared All the money we bring in goes to the library so the more we can make the more we can donate So I d love a bigger space for that For the unhoused it would be nice to have a couple of long tables where people could sit maybe play games Beyond space maximization and usefulness the population generally wants to see the library continue to be an inviting and creative third space The same goes for City Hall Humora says it will be If you look at this current City Hall I believe it s a mid-century modern architectural style It s kind of like a house So it s low one story tall roofs but it s inviting It has a nice door in the front The lobbies are a really good space Humora revealed And we yearned the populace to feel invited still We still yearned it to feel like a home No one wants to come to city hall but if you have to come to city Hall we want it to be an inviting place where people can conduct business feel reassured and then the employees have a nice space too Help needed to get projects off paper and into the ground To get the City Hall and library redevelopment projects off paper and on the ground Humora noted he requirements everyone s help So far we ve gotten everyone s help by passing Proposition D back in he explained The region was a big help by passing Proposition L renewal in November that passed by That s our three-quarter-cent sales tax that keeps our funding stable so we re able to proceed and move forward with projects like this However there are still a lot of unknowns as the city looks to potentially expand the parking district and increase meter rates to offset project costs and building affordable housing on the Civic Center site Nothing has been set in stone yet Those are puzzles we need to figure out still Humora reported But again we re lucky We have land None of the existing library parking would be impacted during that construction They ve got Allison Avenue open there s parking next to the library none of that would be touched There s approaches to maneuver the puzzle around To stay updated on the progress of the Civic Center redevelopment Humora recommends checking the city s website and signing up for their biweekly newsletter