West San Jose Resident
News
Proposed Bascom library working around billboard
By Stephen Baxter
San Jose officials are negotiating with Clear Channel Outdoor to take down a billboard standing in the way of a proposed library and community center on Bascom Avenue.
City staff had recommended seizing the billboard by eminent domain, but at a Dec. 18 city council meeting, public works director Katy Allen said there had been progress in talks with the billboard's owner to remove it. The vacant lot at 1000 S. Bascom is the future site of the proposed two-story, 40,000-square-foot Bascom Library and Community Center that will serve District 6 residents.
It is expected to include a gymnasium, classrooms, a community room, fitness center and game room. It would also have a 90-space parking lot.
Construction is expected to begin in summer 2008 and finish in early 2010. If the double-sided billboard is not removed by February, it could delay the project and add costs, according to city documents.
In September, Clear Channel rejected a $57,000 city offer for the sign. The company instead offered to take down the billboard in exchange for the right to modernize and light up two other billboards.
In a second offer, Peggy O'Laughlin, an attorney for Clear Channel, said the firm would remove the billboard and three others in the city if it could improve a billboard on Interstate 880. San Jose city staff indicated that it could work with the new offer.
Several council members said at the Dec. 18 council meeting that eminent domain should not be used to take control of the sign.
"Eminent domain should be a last resort," said Councilman Pete Constant. "Not getting it through city hall is not a reason to do it."
Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio also did not support city seizure of the billboard and he encouraged city staff to continue negotiating with Clear Channel.
To give time for city planners to negotiate with the company, the council voted to defer action on the billboard to Jan. 8. If an agreement is not reached, the city still can decide to seize it by eminent domain before Jan. 11.