City of Santa Clarita requests input regarding the proposed library in Downtown Newhall

The City of Santa Clarita is seeking public input regarding the proposed new library in Downtown (Old Town) Newhall.

Interesting to note is that the poll is set up so you can request what you want the proposed new library to include, but there are no questions related to whether you want a new library in that area or not. Newhall already has a public library that was updated in recent years, so it seems to me that the funds would be better spent in areas that don’t have libraries at all yet, like Acton and Castaic for example.

Another interesting tidbit is that the original Old Town Newhall Redevelopment Plans showed this as a 65,000 square foot library, with some retail or office space as filler. Current plans show the library using a maximum of 18,000 to 24,000 square feet, with the remainder taken up by retail and office space.

Is There a Need for a New Library?

As in other aspects of the Newhall redevelopment plan, City planners are hoping to lure visitors from Stevenson Ranch and other surrounding communities to Newhall in order to increase the number of visitors to the Downtown Newhall area. Are Stevenson Ranch residents likely to travel to Newhall to visit a library, rather than using the Valencia library? Do affluent neighborhoods like Stevenson Ranch even use a library any more, now that the majority of research information is online these days?

Businesses to be Removed to Build New Library

City officials have decided to remove businesses located on Spruce Street to make room for this proposed new library, retail, and office building. At this point, the library is set to take up less than one third of the proposed 65,000 square foot building, so this is really going to be a strip mall of sorts with a library attached. That is, if Los Angeles County approves this library in the first place!

Considering the fact that Newhall already has a library, and other areas in the Santa Clarita Valley desperately need libraries, is this project really necessary? And what of the long-standing businesses that would have to be removed to make room for this combination library, retail and office space?

The Antique Flower Garden occupied the historic jail building that’s located on the library’s building site. Although City staffers say that the jail building will be preserved, current drawings don’t appear to show it in place. Will it be moved to a new location, or somehow incorporated into the new design?

The White Light Chiropractic Center is also on that site, and has been there as a business owner and a property owner for over 20 years. Tenants on the proposed library site include Paws for Fun Doggie Day Care and Just Passing Through, as well as the CarQuest store (although an agreement has already been reached regarding the "sale" of CarQuest’s building to the City). Can we justify removing these businesses to build another combination retail and office center with a library attached?

We’ve already experienced the closing of Newhall Hardware due in part to redevelopment issues. Do we want to force out other long-standing Newhall businesses as well?

Don’t want a new library in Newhall? Write it in!

Although the current poll doesn’t ask whether you think a new library should be built in Newhall or not, there are definitely ways to express your opinion via the poll. Both Question #15 and the final question allow for additional comments regarding this proposed library project. If you are not in favor of building this new combination retail, office and library building, or of evicting the businesses along Spruce Street in order to build this project, simply write your comments in these boxes. Remember that the library itself has not yet been approved by Los Angeles County, and that the proposed library will take up less than one third of the "library project" building.

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