The city has made a very minimal effort to find a site for a new library on city property

By Betty Buginas

Taken from the El Cerrito Wire

Copy of email sent the evening of March 10 to the city clerk, city attorney, city manager, and city council members:

Since the city has not adequately responded to my public records request, I would like you to confirm the information I was able to locate on the city’s website:

*The only two options the city has considered for building on city land are:

1)Building a combination new 12,500-square-foot theater and 21,900 -square-foot library with a 130-space parking garage on the block owned by the city and occupied by the Contra Costa Civic Theatre. This option was rejected because of cost. (From the March 1, 2016, El Cerrito Library Site Feasibility and Scope Development Report.)

2)Building a combination Community Center and library with parking at the site of the current Community Center. (The slide from the August 10, 2019 workshop does not include square footage or number of parking spaces.)

*The criteria for limiting the consideration of city-owned parcels to these two was based on the assumptions that the library needs to be 20,000 square feet, have a generous supply of parking, and be centrally located.

*The assumption the city needs a library three times the size of the current one is from an assessment by a consultant written in 2014, a time when the hottest items to check out from the library were DVDs.

The city’s claim that building at BART would save $10 million is based largely on omitting parking and not having to buy the land, so it’s puzzling city leadership hasn’t taken another look at building on city land. This would avoid the need to buy a site, with the bonus that the library wouldn’t be on someone else’s property. If you are willing to disregard parking requirements in one of the most congested areas in town, why not elsewhere?

It’s also puzzling that you have not explored options for a library of less than 20,000 square feet. It would save construction costs as well as reduce the annual operation and maintenance costs of a larger library, expected to increase to as much as $797,000 per year for a 20,000-square-foot library. Any reduction in size increases the number of possible sites, city owned and not.

At the BART site, you are willing to build on parking lots. If that’s an acceptable practice, that would further expand the list of possible sites.

The city has applied different criteria for analysis of the BART site than it has to any other. It ignores the concerns documented on the city website about the BART location – not centrally located, inadequate parking, traffic congestion, less child focused, many factors outside of city control, not easily accessible by public transportation for people coming from many parts of El Cerrito.

The city website says, “If the current opportunity is not pursued, there are no other sites identified for moving forward a new library project in the near-term.” That’s because the city has not made the effort to identify other sites.

Submitted Feb. 23 using online form:

Under the California Public Records Act, I request copies of any reports, studies, memoranda, presentations, consultant reports, or other formal documents supporting or relating to the City Manager’s statement at the February 19, 2026 Special City Council meeting regarding city-owned sites the City had identified, evaluated, and rejected for a library.

This request includes records sufficient to show which city-owned sites were considered and the basis for their evaluation and rejection.

I request these records in electronic format if available.

If any portion of this request is denied, please cite the specific legal exemption and provide any reasonably segregable non-exempt portions.

If some responsive records are readily available, I respectfully request that they be provided promptly, and that any remaining records that require additional time to retrieve also be produced promptly once available.

Thank you

Feb. 24 City Response

All the responsive records have been posted to the City website. Please find the records of your request at the links below:

Information about the El Cerrito Library | El Cerrito, CA – Official Website
( https://www.elcerrito.gov/483/Library )

Council Meeting Videos & Materials | El Cerrito, CA – Official Website
( https://elcerrito.gov/482/Council-Meeting-Videos-Materials )

Thank you.

City of El Cerrito
City Clerk Department
cityclerk@elcerrito.gov

My Feb. 25 email to city clerk and city attorney

City Clerk,

Thank you for your response to my Public Records Act request.

My request specifically sought copies of reports, studies, memoranda, presentations, consultant reports, or other formal documents relating to the City Manager’s February 19, 2026 statement regarding city-owned sites the City had evaluated and rejected for a library, including records sufficient to show which city-owned sites were considered and the basis for their evaluation and rejection.

Your response stated that all responsive records have been posted on the City website and provided links to general webpages containing a large volume of materials.
Under Government Code §§ 7922.530 and 7922.545, public records must be made promptly available, and when directing a requester to records posted online, the agency must identify the specific location of the responsive records.

Accordingly, please identify the specific documents and their locations on the City website that are responsive to my request.

In addition, please confirm whether the City conducted a reasonable search for responsive records, including records not posted on the City website, and whether any additional responsive records exist.

Thank you for your assistance, and I look forward to your response.

Betty Buginas

My March 5 email to the city clerk, city attorney, city manager, all five council members

City Clerk,

I am writing because ten days have now passed since I submitted my Public Records Act request seeking documents supporting the City Manager’s February 19, 2026 statement regarding city-owned sites that were considered and rejected for a library, including the basis for those decisions.

The City’s initial response directed me to two very broad sections of the City website. Such a broad response is insufficient to meet the requirements of the Public Records Act. I subsequently requested that the City identify the specific documents responsive to my request.

Under Government Code § 7922.600, the City is required to provide reasonable assistance in identifying records responsive to a request.

Please provide the requested documents within five days, electronically if available, or photocopied if not. If no such documents exist, please confirm that the City has conducted a reasonable search and that no records exist supporting the City Manager’s February 19 statement.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Betty Buginas