Cabrillo College and the City of Scotts Valley are near a deal that would move Cabrillo’s Scotts Valley campus from Whispering Pines Drive to a new home connected to the new Scotts Valley Library.
A subcommittee made up of city councilman Randy Johnson and mayor Dene Bustichi are in talks with Cabrillo College President Brian King about the possible partnership between the college and the city.
The city council will meet in closed session on March 2 to discuss the deal and Cabrillo’s board of trustees will talk about it March 7, King said.
“It hasn’t been finalized,” King said. “But we anticipate having a larger space with better parking close to the library with a lower cost.”
Cabrillo currently pays about $161,000 annually to lease the 7,350 square foot building on Whispering Pines Drive. He said the space connected to the library is nearly 9,100 square feet. Because the deal is in negotiations, he could not talk about the lease, except to say it will come at a lower cost to the college.
Scotts Valley has been looking for retail businesses to fill the remaining part of the library. The building, a former sports complex, is about 23,000 square feet, and the library will occupy about 13,000 square feet. Cabrillo would fill the remaining space that was originally slated as retail space.
“We’ve been in discussion and we’ve come to a point where we’re just working out the finer details,” Johnson said. “The discussion has been very positive. They want to be there and we want them there.”
The Scotts Valley Center opened in Dec. 2006 as the Cabrillo’s North County branch. The college’s class offerings have decreased in Scotts Valley in recent years due to budget constraints, but general education classes in math, English, Spanish, economics, history and health are offered along with technical education classes like criminal justice, human relations and medical terminology classes. According to Cabrillo, there were 250 students enrolled at Scotts Valley in fall 2010 and 72 percent of those students are 25 years old or younger.
The new space could provide a boost for the city in several ways, Johnson said.
First, the city will collect rent, helping to offset the cost of the building. Second, Johnson said, because Scotts Valley residents pay for Measure D – a property tax measure passed in 2004 to upgrade Cabrillo’s facilities – they are now directly investing in the city with tax dollars. Third, those businesses interested in the future town center are keen on the idea because it brings people to the area at all times of the day and in the early evening.
King said Cabrillo has been happy with its location, but the new space next to the library would provide benefits as well.
First, the Cavallaro Transit Center sits across the street for easy Santa Cruz Metro access. The new location would have plenty of parking for students and being right next door to a library is advantageous for students.
King said Cabrillo originally met with the city about the possibility of moving the campus into the proposed Town Center – but once the library plan came into place, it seemed like a good fit.
If a deal is reached, King said, the college would target a full move in early 2012.
Developer Kevin Pratt, whose family has taken on the town center project, said he is thrilled by the prospect of Cabrillo moving in next to the library, a short distance from the future development.
“It’s awesome,” Pratt said. “It’s an absolutely perfect use. We would love to see Cabrillo there.”
Pratt explained that in urban planning, the more uses an area has — shopping, recreation, city services, education and so on — the more successful something like the town center is likely to be.
