Time for the next step in library planning

June Casagrande

The local funds have been raised, the state grant has been

awarded, the local battle has simmered down -- now it’s time to get

moving.

The next phase of the Mariners Joint-Use Library project should

soon kick into full-gear since Councilman Don Webb has proposed

creating an ad hoc committee to create detailed plans for the

library.

His hope: To have construction underway by the fall.

City staff will prepare an agenda item for an upcoming council

meeting to allow members to vote on creating the committee.

Once it is created and council members make their appointments ,

the body will develop detailed plans of the joint public and school

library.

“We need to get a project put together as rapidly as possible,”

Webb said at Tuesday’s council meeting. He noted that the school and

the public are in dire need of an improved library facility for the

Mariners branch.

The 15,000-square-foot library will replace the aging Mariners

branch library and serve as the school library for Mariners

Elementary School. The joint-use nature of the project was required

for it to qualify for state money earmarked for such joint projects.

Some parents and community members have opposed the project out of

fear that it exposes school children to dangerous contact with the

public.

Planners say they will incorporate a number of safeguards in the

design to keep the children separate from the public.

On Dec. 2, the state agreed to award the city $3.2 million in

matching funds for the project. City officials originally estimated

that the library would cost just under $4 million.

With the goal of raising a third of the money from private

donations, community leaders gathered more than $1 million in

pledges. But changes to the project’s concept, including security

measures, brought the cost up to nearly $5 million.

The difference of roughly $800,000 will likely be paid out of the

city budget, City Manager Homer Bludau has said.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.