2017 – it was a hard year at the College-Rolando Library.
Circulation dropped by two-thirds. Community groups shifted meetings to a now-shuttered church. Visits dropped by 30%. Use of children’s programs at the library, the only public space in the community other than a 1.4-acre park, also fell by half, according to the branch Friends of the Library group.
The drop can be attributed to a single cause: Lack of parking.
In December 2016, a new property owner purchased the lot next to the library and put up fencing that blocked access to the Montezuma Road entrance and dozens of parking spots that library patrons previously used.
When the fencing came down thanks to a new joint-use agreement, library visits bounced back.
But now library leaders are bracing for a situation similar to 2017 as green fences go up once again. The property owner, in a partnership with Houston-based The Dinerstein Companies, is developing the former church site and shared parking lot into a five-story building that shares 25 parking spots with the library.
“We are in great angst here,” said Jan Hintzman, president of the College-Rolando branch Friends of the Library.
The College-Rolando area does not have a community center, so the library takes on that role, with a summer lunch program, weekly produce distribution, after-school homework assistance and a voting center. It also serves as a cool zone during heat waves, which is particularly important to elderly College-Rolandans who lack air conditioning in older homes.
“The reality is that a lot of these programs are not going to work without parking,” said Julie Hamilton, president of the College Area Community Council. “It’s a hub. It’s all we have, frankly.”
The library, located at 6600 Montezuma, has a parking lot and private driveway designed in 2002. That year, the city struck a joint-use agreement with College Lutheran Church, once located at 6650 Montezuma, to build a 31-spot parking lot and exit that could be shared. The joint-use agreement included an option for the city to buy the property if it went up for sale. Library patrons could also use an additional 72 spaces around the church if other spots were full.
The library, and its $156,000 city-constructed parking lot, opened in 2005. Library visitors used that shared church parking except during its temporary closure in 2017, but that will stop once this year’s construction begins.
That’s expected to happen this month, according to library spokesperson Caleb Olsen, with plans to keep close to 30 library parking spaces open through all stages of construction. It would start with a sewer project on city property before the construction site is rearranged after a few weeks to begin building on the private property side for the next two years.
The start date could be pushed back. The city’s Department of Development Services is actively reviewing an amendment for small changes to the plans, including eliminating one elevator.
The original permit, issued in June 2025, was for a building consisting of 125 extended-stay rental units (hotel non-transient units) and 57 multi-family apartment units. CBRE, which facilitated the agreement between the property owner and Dinerstein, described its use as student housing in a mixed-use building.
The Dinerstein Companies, which specializes in student housing nationwide, could not be reached for comment.
Hintzman believes the project includes 160 indoor resident-only parking spots and an additional 25 outdoor parking spots that library patrons may use.
But Friends of the Library are concerned that once construction ends, an influx of residents sharing the same driveways to Montezuma and Mohawk Street will compromise library access. Residents might use those spots too.
“There’s going to be all these people trying to use this little bit of parking,” Hintzman said. “This is going to affect this library forever after… How do you share something when there’s nothing to share?”
Street parking is limited on nearby streets, including Montezuma and El Cajon Boulevard.
“When people say, ‘well I can’t find a place to park, where should I go?’ What do we tell them?” Hintzman said. “There isn’t any place.”
Hamilton noted that the closest trolley station is technically within walking distance, but is a steep trek on a busy corridor.
“You’d be hard pressed to walk your child up it, or your grandma,” Hamilton said.
There is a nearby bus station, but not everyone would be willing to take public transportation to pick up books, media items and meals from the library.
Hamilton wishes the city pushed for a reciprocal easement for the development to use the library driveway on Mohawk, and the library to use the Montezuma driveway as a way to negotiate for better parking terms for the 25 spots.
“(The city) had so many opportunities to require this project to provide parking, and they just didn’t do it,” Hamilton said.
Complaints over how the city neglected to put the public and its library first trace back to 2016, when the church alerted the city it was selling the Montezuma site. The city had the option to buy because of the money it invested in building the parking lot and could have added a park or community center or expanded the library for a neighborhood with few public amenities.
However, the city did not buy the property, which is “a terribly, horribly bad, awful, stupid decision,” Hintzman said.
Despite residual frustration over the decision, and the city’s later lack of attention to creating better parking access, Hintzman is trying to move forward. That includes communicating with the public that the library is still open and looking for long-term solutions for new parking.
“(The developers) have an interest in having a good project, just like we have an interest as a public in having a library,” Hintzman said. “So let’s bring these interests together.”
By some metrics, the College-Rolando Library is punching above its weight. The branch serves 52,000 people, the fifth-highest number of any library in the city. That population has a median income of $51,567, making it the fourth-lowest of any library population in the city.
The library, which serves more people and a poorer population that is quickly diversifying, had the highest circulation rate of the five branches with the lowest median family income level. In fiscal year 2023, 78,000 items were checked out, or 1.5 items per person.
This summer, the library had about 500 visitors per day, or 62 entries per hour. Friends of the Library leaders worry construction, and the new development, will cut into that success.
“They think we’re exaggerating because we love our library. We’re little old ladies,” Hintzman said. “We can’t get attention (to) the fact that we are a big library serving a lot of people, and we’re serving them really, really well. And you’re destroying it because there’s no parking.”
