After years of study and public outreach, the city has decided on a plan for the Winn Room at the Coronado Public Library.
The space will be expanded to increase seating capacity from 135 to 208, and will include a foyer and optional desk space that would allow for outdoor performances. This would require the removal of five trees, at an estimated cost of $9.72 million.
The plan, which was the most extensive of the options brought before the council, was approved by the Coronado City Council on Aug. 20 in a 3-2 vote. Council members Casey Tanaka and Mike Donovan voted in dissent.
Mayor Richard Bailey, despite initially supporting a less extensive refresh to the space (Option Two, as outlined in depth below), agreed to support the expansion with the caveat that the city reconsider its contract to use the Coronado High School Auditorium, which seats 570. Coronado pays $370,000 annually to use the space.
The decision was not an easy one, and council deliberations and public comment stretched more than two hours. Supporters of the Winn Room expansion said it would position the library as a hub for the community and pave the way for more cultural events in the city.
Many community members did not support expansion due to the loss of trees it would require. The grounds around the library boast mature trees, and critics of the plan said the city should protect its green space.
Tanaka, who voted against the expansion, said that Option 4 was an amenity the city could use – in a more appropriate space.
“You can’t live in Coronado and not know that we don’t have much space,” Tanaka said. “We’re a built-out community. So it doesn’t bring me any pleasure to say this, but I don’t believe Option 4 fits in the Winn Room site appropriately.”
The more robust the Winn Room expansion is, Tanaka argued, the more people will flock to it, in an area that already has a dearth of parking.
“I favor Option 3 because I want that space to be as great as we can make it without creating problems that our neighborhoods can’t handle,” he added.
Tanaka chaired the city’s Winn Room subcommittee, on which City Council Member Carrie Downey also sat. Former City Council Member Marvin Heinze also spent time on the committee.
The committee was formed in 2021 after a potential expansion was brought before the council. That expansion, Tanaka said, looked a lot like the one that was passed on Aug. 20, but without context, the council opted to do some research about facility use and needs and to explore additional options.
Four options were brought before the council in December 2023, at which point the council opted to solicit public opinion and fine-tune some options.
The research was well worth it, Downey said.
“At first, I really thought that Option 3 was the way to go, and I didn’t see the need to go all the way to (Option) 4 because I really didn’t see the need to hit that 200-seat mark,” she said, noting that this is the capacity minimum many authors hold for speaking engagements. “But I have grown to like Option 4 because of the flexibility involved.”
Downey did not agree with Tanaka’s assessment about the lack of parking. While it was an initial concern of hers, she said that Coronado residents walk, utilize the city’s free shuttle services, or carpool to “make it work.”
City Council Member Mike Donovan entered council deliberation on the fence between Options 3 and 4. While he liked the scope of the fourth option, he said he worried about encroaching on the city’s green space. Further, he said, the city needs to determine what role it is trying to fill will the Winn Room.
“I think the Winn Room has, for lack of a better term, taken on a life of its own,” Donovan said. “It was meant to be a community space that could be used by residents, not as a cultural arts center.”
Donovan said he worried that in a decade or two, a new, larger expansion would cross a future city council’s radar.
“Where does it end?” he asked.
But City Council Member John Duncan said the ability to attract more cultural events for residents should be a priority. He also began deliberations on the fence between options, but was leaning toward Option Four – with the caveat that the lost trees be replaced.
“I’m a big proponent of outdoor activity, and I believe the park space would be used more under Option Four,” he said, referencing the optional deck and outdoor stage included in that plan. The expansion will increase the Winn Room’s footprint at the expense of the five trees, whose roots are gnarled and difficult to navigate.
Downey agreed that the space was unusable, and also posed a safety risk. She said her focus as the project moves forward would be to ensure the space is accessible with sufficient lighting.
“The trees are beautiful, but in the last five years, all I’ve had to worry about is, ‘Can I get to my car without tripping on the roots.”
The project will still need to go through design, environmental review, and bidding, so construction is not imminent. No projected dates have yet been released.
The four options are outlined below:
Option 1:
This option would provide a “bare minimum” renovation, updating the room’s audiovisual system, fixing a leaking roof, updating the HVAC system, and cosmetic fixes, for a cost of $3.28 million. Each subsequent option includes these fixes, with that base cost.
Under this plan, the room could support 135 seats maximum, and 35% of the screen would be visible from the back row.
Option 2:
This option would not expand the footprint of the Winn Room or its seating capacity, but it would raise the ceiling height, which would solve the problem of visibility: By raising the screen height, 90% of the screen would be visible from the back row. This option carries an estimated cost of $4.15 million.
Option 3:
This small expansion would not protrude into the northern section of the park, but would come at the cost of one tree. Under this plan, seating capacity would increase to 180, and 95% of the screen would be visible from the back row, for an estimated cost of $6.44 million.
Option 4:
The largest expansion option would include a foyer and optional desk space that would allow for outdoor performances. This would require the loss of five trees, and would increase seating capacity to 208, for the price of $9.72 million.
