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Land lease fee halts 4S Ranch Library expansion

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County library officials, County Supervisor Dave Roberts, Friends of the 4S Ranch Library and 4S Ranch’s homeowners association have all expressed a desire to see the 4S Ranch Library expanded.

But agreeing on how much it should cost the county to lease several thousand square feet of the HOA’s land is the hurdle.

Roberts said soon after being elected three years ago he started exploring what the county could do for District 3 communities, including 4S Ranch.

As a longtime library supporter — years ago he was Friends of the Solana Beach Library’s vice chairman — he was especially interested in how the 7,214-square-foot 4S Ranch Library could better serve patrons since it is the seventh busiest among the county’s 33 branches. When he learned expansion was a possibility, Roberts said he fully backed the idea.

That included getting several million dollars earmarked so the library can nearly double in size, to around 13,757 square feet. He said as soon as land behind the library becomes available, expansion can begin.

County officials have been talking with 4S Ranch Master Association officials about the expansion for a couple years and entered negotiations several months ago, but talks ceased this summer. Per a June 23 email by April Heinze, director of the county’s department of general services, “4S Library expansion will not be moving forward due to lack of agreement with the HOA over ground rent. Close your files for now.”

The email to several county officials was in response to one Heinze and Roberts’ chief of staff Mel Millstein received earlier that day from Paola Scrimsher, 4S Ranch Master Association division/general manager, in which she wrote, “The Board of Directors did not accept the presented offer. Their request will remain as indicated in my email from May 20th. At this time, the Board will remove this item from the agenda for further discussion. Should the County be willing to accept the offer as previously presented by the Board, the item will be added for their consideration.”

The email Scrimsher referred to is one in which she wrote, “the Board is only willing to lease the property at $7,500.00 a year with CPI (consumer price index) yearly increase.”

In an April 22 email, Scrimsher wrote the HOA’s board was giving the county two options: a $30,000 one-time up front payment and $5,000 yearly lease fee or a $7,500 yearly lease fee.

All options are way more than the county typically pays, according to Roberts. He said when a community benefit is proposed — such as a library expansion — and a private entity owns land, the county pays $1 per year in rent and after a set period, like 55 years, the landowner gains ownership of what was constructed there. In most cases, it would continue having the county operate the facility if still needed.

However, Roberts said his fellow supervisors will likely back a $5,000 per year lease with the 4S Ranch Master Association in order to expand the library and he is not concerned about setting precedent since the figure is based on a county appraisal of the land that contains grass, some trees, other plants and hardscape, like sidewalks. The HOA’s land is 1.1 acres, but the county wants roughly half of it for the building expansion and to add 18 parking spaces.

“I’m really frustrated, but I don’t give up,” Roberts said. He recently went to the Friends of the 4S Ranch Library to see if its members can put pressure on the HOA.

Michael Farrell, Friends of the 4S Ranch Library president, said he sent the HOA a letter a week ago, requesting to be added to its Oct. 20 agenda, but has not heard back. Regardless, the Friends intend to have several members and 4S Ranch residents there to share their thoughts during public comment.

The HOA meeting’s public portion begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20 in the 4S Ranch Library community room, 10433 Reserve Drive.

Farrell the group recently learned of the expansion possibility and are fully behind it. While the Friends could pay the $2,500 difference, the all-volunteer group is reluctant since in years to come the difference could grow substantially since the HOA’s proposal is tied to the consumer price index.

“It could go up, which would be problematic if there is high inflation,” he said. “We felt the HOA, or maybe its management company calling all the shots, does not understand the significance of an expanded library.”

“Things haven’t necessarily ended, we are willing to resume negotiations with the county,” said Al Bates, vice president of the 4S Ranch Master Association, on Tuesday.

He said the library expansion idea originated with the HOA’s president, John Pintacacuda, whom Bates said approached county officials, not the other way around. “It’s his brain child, (Pintacacuda) pushed for it. That got the negotiations started,” Bates said.

“I still consider the negotiations as ongoing,” Bates said, adding he could not reveal details since they were discussed in closed session. “We haven’t talked for awhile, but the last I remember is asking the county to come back to us.”

He said the board would like to see the expansion happen, since it would be a benefit to the community, but the board also has “a legal fiduciary responsibility to our members.” Bates said there are maintenance costs to consider, even though some landscaping the HOA pays to maintain will be removed and replaced by the library building and extra parking spaces. Per one design proposal, Bates said the library addition would extend to the dry creek bed area.

“I do not want to negotiate with the county through the news media,” Bates added. “I thought things were progressing well, but they slowed down.”

San Diego County Library Director José Aponte said an expansion is greatly needed. The library was provided by Newland Communities as part of its development deal with the county when building 4S Ranch.

Soon after its April 2007 opening, the library’s popularity became apparent, a trend Aponte said library officials see in affluent and low-income neighborhoods since people in both financial ends of the spectrum see the value of libraries and what they have to offer.

“We did not know what the need would be since we never had a library there,” Aponte said. “But within the first six months to one year we knew we had a winner.”

He said the branch has the 18th largest footprint among the county’s 33 branches, but highest circulation per square foot. In terms of materials circulated, it is the seventh busiest, with 598,368 materials circulated during the 2013-14 fiscal year. “That represents 5.38 percent of total circulation (for the county system),” he said.

It ranks seventh in hours open, 2,756 per the latest annual stats, which do not include its recent addition of Sunday hours that started this past summer. 4S Ranch is first in circulation per its seven full-time employees (85,481 items) — “they work really hard,” Aponte said — and fifth for visitors, with 219,253 during the last fiscal year.

“It is one of the busiest branch libraries in one of America’s busiest (systems),” Aponte said, noting its well-attended programs cater to a diverse audience. He said it is a leader in programming and started several ethnic events that have been picked up by other branches.

He also said the 4S branch breaks trends. Library patronage is typically one-third youths and two-thirds adults. In his 40 years in library work he has never seen a library with 69 percent material circulation by youths. “This is extraordinary,” he said.

For this reason, expansion plans call for much larger children and teen areas. There will also be a larger adult section and expanded community room, plus additions like a Friends bookstore.

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