City of Salinas exploring public-private partnership for library expansion

The city of Salinas is looking to expand the El Gabilan Library through a public-private partnership.

Expansion of the library was identified as a priority in the city’s strategic plan adopted in February.

As a first step, city staff are recommending that $100,000 in Measure V funds be allocated for a needs study, which would define the size, construction cost and operational costs for a new or expanded library.

The Measure V Oversight Committee will consider the recommendation at its meeting Thursday night.

Under the terms of the public-private partnership, the majority of the project’s costs would be paid for by the allUS Credit Union, formerly known as the Monterey County Credit Union.

The proposed partnership follows an application by allUS Credit Union to develop and move to a city-owned lot next door to El Gabilan at 1410 North Main St.

Under the deal, the current El Gabilan lot would be combined with the neighboring one wanted by the credit union. The credit union would rent its share of the lot from the city under a 40-year ground lease, and it would pay all the rent in advance. That would provide $1.4 million, which the city would use to pay some of the cost of the library expansion. The rest would be sought from private foundations and/or through state and national grants.