City Council has authorized a $3.26 million Purchase and Sale Agreement for a potential new public library at 1950 Bay Road.
There has been very little - if no mention at all - of the city's planned new library site next to the EPACENTER, so I wanted to write a post about what is going on.
Timeline
December 7, 2021
City Council authorized the City Manager "to execute a Purchase and Sale Agreement (Attachment 2) between the City of East Palo Alto and the East Palo Alto Youth Arts & Music Center, LLC (an affiliate of the John and Marcia Goldman Foundation) for the potential acquisition of the Site located at the corner of Bay Road and Pulgas Avenue (APN 063-240-490) for potential future development of a new public library; and appropriate $110,000 from the General Fund Reserve to provide funding for the acquisition deposit and any unforeseen costs incurred during the contract term, as further described in this staff report" (Source: City Council Meeting Agenda).
I took these screenshots of the slides from the meeting recording. Unfortunately, these slides were not included in the agenda packet, so I only have the lower resolution screenshots.
March 15, 2022
City Council adopted a resolution "authorizing the City Manager to execute an amendment to the Purchase and Sale Agreement (“PSA”), in a form approved by the City Attorney, between the City of East Palo Alto and the East Palo Alto Youth Arts & Music Center, LLC for the potential acquisition of the property located near the corner of Bay Road and Pulgas Avenue (APN: 063-240-490) (“Site”) to extend thedue diligence period by an additional 30-days" (Source: City Council Meeting Agenda).
City Council also "direct[ed] the City Manager to submit an application to the California State Library for the Building Forward Library Infrastructure Program (“Program”)."
April 14, 2022
A backhoe cleared the northern half of the vegetation on the proposed site of the new library. It is not certain why it was cleared and no signage was posted.
April 19, 2022
The backhoe cleared the remaining half of the vegetation on the proposed site of the new library. I really wanted to go ask the construction worker what the site clearing is for.
April 20, 2022
Several hours of work were done flattening the land, and several people were on site cutting back all of the vegetation. Here are some photos that I took today.
Summary
I shared a timeline of the proposed library site at 1950 Bay Road in East Palo Alto, and then diverged into construction update photos. I have not seen any news about whether the land purchase has gone through, and I'm also not sure what the timeline would like to raise funds for the library. This is all in very early stages, and I just wanted to offer a glimpse into the location of a new potential library in East Palo Alto.
