Roseland library, fire station get $10 million boost from state

State Sen. Mike McGuire joined city and county officials and nonprofit leaders at a gathering Tuesday along Hearn Avenue to announce $10 million in new state funding for two long-awaited Roseland civic projects.

Through an earmark in the state budget, McGuire, a Healdsburg Democrat who became Senate Majority Leader in January, and other area lawmakers secured $5 million for construction of a new Santa Rosa Fire Station No. 8 and another $5 million for a public library.

Both projects have long been sought by public safety officials and community activists who say southwestern Santa Rosa is growing but grappling with historic underinvestment in public infrastructure and civic life.

State and city officials have now allocated around $39 million toward creation of a civic complex on a more than 6-acre property that today is mostly fields and a few old structures.

McGuire called the funds a “massive step forward to be able to fulfill a promise of bringing desperately needed services and programs” to Roseland and the surrounding area.

“For far too long, Roseland has been left behind,” McGuire said, “left behind with aging infrastructure, lack of services, the lack of resources, and it's left the vibrant neighborhoods that make up this amazing community without equal access to the resources that they deserve.”

The Santa Rosa City Council in January announced the city would purchase three parcels on the south side of Hearn Avenue. Dutton Avenue, a north-south thoroughfare for western Santa Rosa, ends in a T-intersection at Hearn Avenue. The road picks back up on the southern side of the property, and the purchase will allow the two segments of Dutton Avenue to connect.

Road construction will leave enough land for the library, fire station and a Roseland community building that has not yet been defined but may include an aquatic recreation center, according to Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Rogers. City officials have allocated $10 million in federal pandemic stimulus funds toward that eventual project.

The city has paid $3.8 million for two of the parcels so far, according to Santa Rosa Real Estate Manager Jill Scott. The third parcel is in escrow, and the purchase price is not yet public record.

Though the budget earmark is a major step, officials have not secured enough funding for either the fire station or the library to actually be built.

Last fall, the City Council set aside $10 million for the library in settlement funds paid by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. from the 2017 firestorms.

Assembly member Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, secured $1 million with a separate budget measure for that project. McGuire’s announcement Tuesday brings the total for that project to $16 million.

The library will be the biggest in the county’s system and its “crown jewel,” Sonoma County Library Director Erika Thibault said. The building is envisioned at around 20,000 square feet, she said, and officials hope to begin construction in 2024.

While the final cost estimate will shift with material and labor costs, current estimates are as high as $27 million, according to Ray Holley, the library system’s spokesperson. Library advocates will continue seeking new government funding sources to make up the current $11 million gap.

The nonprofit Sonoma County Public Library Foundation will begin a private fundraising campaign in the fall. The foundation has never embarked on a capital construction fundraising campaign of this scope, Board President Sara Ortiz said, but the substantive state funds already secured will make for a positive message to prospective donors.

“That makes our donors realize this is going to happen,” she said.

Around $3 million in sales tax revenue for public safety is set aside for the fire station. A separate budget item from Levine brought another $1 million for the fire station, as well, bringing the total for that project to $9 million so far.

A modern fire station costs around $15 million, Santa Rosa Fire Chief Scott Westrope said. Fire officials have sought for years to build a replacement for Santa Rosa’s Fire Station No. 8 on Burbank Avenue near Sebastopol Road.

Placing a station closer to Highway 101 amid growing residential neighborhoods will ensure better fire protection for the city’s southwestern quadrant, Westrope said, and allow the department to “be really ingrained” in Roseland.

You can reach Staff Writer Andrew Graham at 707-526-8667 or andrew.graham@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @AndrewGraham88