A thought held in common by many library patrons emerged at Goleta City Council, which held a long session late Tuesday night on where to site the library during two years of construction. About a dozen people asked the city to consider the 24,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Bed Bath & Beyond, but Assistant City Manager Jaime Valdez said it was too big for too long a lease. Instead, the council agreed to lease a smaller space at 6500 Hollister Avenue, between Los Carneros Way and Cremona Drive.
The library on upper Fairview Avenue is 53 years old and in need of updates for wheelchair access to the bathrooms, heating and air conditioning so the 11,000-square-foot space can serve as a shelter during bad weather and power outages, security and LED lighting upgrades, and outer wall repairs and paint to put an end to leaks. With a $4.3 million grant from the State Library — and a donation of $250,000 from its Friends — toward the $5.3 million estimated total cost, the city is under a deadline to finish by June 2027.
Staff searched for a “move-in ready” space, among them the Goleta Valley Community Center. Placing the library there, however, would delay the disability access work needed and provide no shelter without expensive improvements. In the alternative, city staff looked at 10 spaces available for lease.
Bed Bath & Beyond had not been among them, but Councilmember Luz Reyes-Martín, in whose district the library is found, asked Valdez to look into leasing the warehouse-sized space at Fairview shopping center, having received numerous requests from constituents. Ten more wrote to the council asking the same. Valdez reported on his
conversations with the landlord, saying they started at a 10-year lease for all 24,000 square feet and ended at five years for half the space. In short, “The answer was no,” Valdez said. Additionally, a new national tenant might soon take the space, though the agent would not say who that was.
The block-long, two-story building at 6500 Hollister has an interior suite of about 2,500 square feet that is ready to be occupied, said Matt Fore, the city’s director of general services. This is important as construction must begin by April 2025 to meet the ending date in the grant. The two-year lease is $220,000, as are moving and maintenance
costs. The spot is across the parking lot from City Hall, where materials will be stored — the costs include restoring a dumb waiter to descend books from an upper floor — and parking is available for employees and visitors.
While the suite can hold shelves of books, computer desks, and rooms for teens, toddlers, staff, and the Friends of the Goleta Valley Library, the question of programming arose for the Goleta Valley Junior High students who customarily went to the Fairview library just a few blocks from the school. As well, seniors at Encina Royale had let the council know they enjoyed walking to the library. Could the book van be used to move the library to locations beyond its current 20 hours a week in Isla Vista?
Valdez expressed unease at the additional wear-and-tear on the book van, but added, “We want to meet people where they are.” The most visited stop in I.V. was the senior community at Friendship Manor, he noted: “It’s way off the charts compared to everywhere else.”
The council also received an offer from the Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church. Past president Harold Hill, who explained that his friends called him Hal, said the church was just up the block from the existing library and offered space for children’s story time, senior happy hour, and book club meetings. “We have parking right on site,” he said. “We are offering this just to try to do our part to keep as much of the service in District 1 for the convenience of the people who are used to using the library there now,” he said.
The council expressed their gratitude to Hal Hill, with Mayor Paula Perotte adding that she believed others would come out with similar offers, “That’s what Goleta is all about.”
Perhaps the most enthusiastic among the councilmembers for the new location was James Kyriaco, saying it placed the library and its resources a bicycle ride from Old Town, which sits in his district. It’s also between two bus stops and down Los Carneros from Isla Vista.
The city librarian, Elizabeth Saucedo, said she’d been speaking with the Friends and the school district about continuing services. And the thought of bringing the library to parks, schools, and even Encina Royale, she said cheerfully, was energizing. Solvang and Carpinteria had libraries roughly the size of the suite at 6500 Hollister, said Saucedo: “Tiny libraries are mighty.”
