DATE: February 11, 2003
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT: A NEW LIBRARY FOR ALPINE AND A HEADQUARTERS FOR THE WILDLIFE RESEARCH INSTITUTE IN THE RAMONA GRASSLANDS

SUMMARY:
Overview
Today's action will provide funds to help the community of Alpine meet its 35% local fundraising requirement for its Library Bond Act application for a new Alpine Branch Library. It will also provide matching funds to the Wildlife Research Institute to acquire a ten-acre parcel and existing buildings for their headquarters in the heart of the Ramona Grasslands.

Recommendations:
VICE CHAIRWOMAN DIANNE JACOB:

1. Establish appropriations from the District Two Community Projects fund (0262) up to but not to exceed $200,000 in the Capital Outlay Fund to be transferred as needed to Capital Project KL2983 Alpine Branch Library.
2. Grant $25,000 to the Wildlife Research Institute to complete the purchase of a ten-acre parcel and existing buildings in the heart of the Ramona Grasslands in Ramona.
3. Authorize the Chief Financial Officer to execute a grant agreement with the organization in item 2, establishing terms for receipt of the funds described above.
4. Find that the allocations listed above will benefit the public.

Fiscal Impact
The fiscal impact of the proposed recommendation is $225,000. The funding source is FY 2002-2003 District Two Community Projects. This action will result in the addition of no staff years and no future costs.

BACKGROUND:
Alpine's current one-room branch library is 3,018 square feet, yet serves an ever-growing population, expected to reach 27,369 by 2020. The library's current collection of 24,000 library materials is inadequate for Alpine's population growth rate. It provides little space for study, and its six public computer stations serve a community whose student population has doubled in size over the past ten years. The library has no separate meeting space for community groups, and very little parking.

Now, with the passage of Proposition 14, the Library Bond Act, Alpine has a chance to build a new library with help from the state. The Alpine Library Friends Association has raised almost all of the entire $1.1 million
required match in a very short amount of time.

Today's action will bridge the remaining funding gap, in order to certify the community's 35% local funding match for their Proposition 14 application, which is due by March 28, 2003. Alpine certainly deserves a new library, and the whole town has worked hard to envision a library that will benefit the entire community for many years to come.

The Ramona Grasslands are a unique ecosystem and one of the last remaining of its kind in San Diego County. They are a critical geographic linkage for contiguous wildlife corridors between north and south San Diego County and also support several different types of endangered wildlife, such as the Golden Eagle, Burrowing Owl and Ferruginous Hawk. That is why, in November 2000, the Board approved an action to work with the Grassland Preservation Project to seek potential sources of funding for the acquisition of grasslands in Ramona within the Multiple Species Conservation Program North County Planning area.

As part of this process, the Wildlife Research Institute worked with the San Diego Foundation and other grant agencies to acquire a ten-acre headquarter parcel at the heart of the Ramona Grasslands. The parcel includes several buildings, which will be used as a project headquarters, a nature center, and an on-site caretaker facility for the Wildlife Research Institute. The WRI has already raised $100,000 in private donations, but more is needed to cover the cost of the sale. Today's action will grant $25,000 in matching funds to the Wildlife Research Institute toward the purchase of this property.

I urge your support.

Respectfully submitted,

DIANNE JACOB
Supervisor, Second District