FALLBROOK —— A group of local residents determined to see a new library built in downtown Fallbrook says they will not let a failed effort to secure state grant money last year stop their plans.

Bob Jacobson, who has been a lead proponent for building a new public library just north of the current one at 124 S. Mission Road, said Wednesday that the Friends of the Library is awaiting the outcome of another, bigger grant opportunity that will come before California voters early next year.

"We've decided that we should wait, and that's what the board has decided to do," he said. "So we'll wait until March 2006 and see what happens."

The group has already raised $2 million during the past few years to use as matching funds when a state grant comes through.

A new bill that was passed last fall in the California legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could finally provide the rest of the money to build the facility.

Created by Senate Bill 1161, which was originally proposed by Sen. Deidre Alpert of Coronado on Feb. 2, 2004, the $600 million bond measure would need voter approval in March 2006 in order to take effect.

In the years leading up to the Prop. 14 application process, the Friends of the Fallbrook Library raised $2 million from its "Bottom Shelf" bookstore, private donations and a grant from Supervisor Bill Horn.

In doing so, the auxiliary committee fulfilled the clause in Proposition 14 that called for applicants to raise 35 percent of their projects' total cost. Even so, Jacobson said the competition for Prop. 14 money last fall was tight.

"There were something like 70 different communities that were applying, and the amount of money that was going to be allocated was $77 million," he said, adding that the sum of all the projects for which applications were filed came to $584 million.

With those odds, it was not devastating when the state left Fallbrook off its list of 12 communities to receive funding under Prop. 14, said Jacobson.

"We were disappointed, but you can't argue too much, because many of the communities that were approved needed it more than we did," he said. "We need more space, but other communities, either they don't have a library at all or the growth there is greater than here."

Community and county leaders, including Horn, have said that the 8,100-square-foot facility that has been Fallbrook's library for decades is not big enough to serve the local population.

On Wednesday, Jacobson said that the application used for Prop. 14 will be used if the new, $600 million bond measure is approved by voters, since the floor plan of the new library and the details of the application have not changed.

Two members of the Friends of the Fallbrook Library committee were unavailable for comment Wednesday.

Contact staff writer Tom Pfingsten at (760) 731-5799 or tpfingsten@nctimes.com.