Library Renovation


In 2016 voters resoundingly passed Measure S, approving a bond funding program that would modernize, update or repair our public libraries.
After 50 years, our Downtown Library surely needs renovation, but the basic structure of the building is sound. Jayson Architecture’s preliminary plans for the existing Downtown Library provide for a complete renovation, remediating all issues, changing the interior layout, opening it up with the addition of wrap around windows and a large central skylight - and bringing it into the 21st-century.
These plans are now ready for community input, construction drawings, and construction.

Jayson Architecture's proposal the existing Downtown Library includes new plumbing, electrical, HVAC, shelving, carpeting, lighting, and elevators.
The design shifts the main entrance to face the courtyard of City Hall.
It includes study rooms, a teen space, a greatly increased children’s area with its own outdoor patio and a large community room available for meetings after hours, also with an outdoor patio.
Jayson Architecture preliminary renderings of renovated Downtown Library



Handicapped and other parking would increase, and parking would be directly accessible adjacent to the Library.
The Library renovation in its historic location would have expansive grounds for ground-level landscaping, in sharp contrast to a library in the Lot 4 mixed-use project.

Concept by Natalie Dean
Check out our Fact Checking on the Library
Check out our Frequently Asked Questions on the Library
For the Downtown Library, the question is whether it will be kept at it current historic location at the Civic Center or a new structure be built as part of a massive 80 foot+ tall complex on Cedar Street's Parking Lot 4.
Healthy communities incorporate what is called "sense of place" in the decision-making around city planning. That means the valuing and preservation of public places that have meaning to a community.
The City's proposal to build a library from scratch and in a completely different location was not brought forward until after Measure S approval. During the 2016 campaign, news stories, a Library director interview and an editorial in the Santa Cruz Sentinel all emphasized renovation of the existing structure. They did not propose building a new Downtown Library.
We believe the Santa Cruz community has a strong preference for renovating our Downtown Library where it is. The renovation plan is beautiful, comprehensive, and includes all the bells and whistles a modern library should have.
Our Downtown, Our Future's ballot initiative gives us the opportunity to demonstrate that preference with a simple vote, giving us a direct democratic voice in where we want our library to be.
A Visual Exploration Of Our Public Library's History at the Civic Center

Carnegie Library, completed 1907

City Hall, 1938
Courtesy Santa Cruz Public Libraries

Civic Auditorium opening, 1940

Downtown Public Library, completed 1968