Friends seek new library

Alicia Robinson

More than 600 of the city’s bibliophiles have a vision of a central

library, larger than the city’s three existing libraries put

together, being built next to Costa Mesa City Hall.

Now they’re asking the City Council to share that vision by

promising them land for the facility.

The Friends of the Costa Mesa Libraries will ask the council in

May to reserve Civic Center Park, a 2.5-acre parcel next to the

Police Department building, as a library site for the next 10 years.

In that time, the library group will work to raise the millions

needed to build the library.

The group hopes for a 50,000-square-foot facility that could cost

around $35 million.

Friends of the Costa Mesa Libraries looked at other properties,

including a state-owned piece of land at the Fairview Developmental

Center, but zeroed in on the city park parcel because they hope to

get it donated, said friends of the library board member Dan

Worthington.

“Any site that we looked at had to be something that we didn’t

have to come up with $3 million to $5 million to buy,” he said.

“We’re pretty convinced that there are no other options that we as

the friends of the library can locate within the city.”

The site also looked good because it’s centrally located, and

Costa Mesa’s three existing libraries are spread out in various

corners of the city, Worthington said.

He told the City Council at a Tuesday study session that the

city’s 16,300 square feet of library space is inadequate to serve

Costa Mesa’s 114,000 residents.

The library friends would seek private donations as well as state

and federal grants to build the library, and they haven’t ruled out a

bond issue.

The city would own the building, but -- like the city’s current

libraries -- the facility would be part of the Orange County library

system, and the county would staff and equip it.

While the park being eyed for the library isn’t heavily used,

Councilwoman Linda Dixon said Tuesday she’d be concerned about giving

up any of the city’s scant recreation space.

The property would need to be rezoned to allow a building that

size, and nearby residents might worry about the impact on their

properties, City Manager Allan Roeder said.

“Any time you talk about a multi-story building in that proximity

to residential [properties] ... there are always concerns with that,”

he said.

Getting the council to dedicate the property will be a key

ingredient of successful fundraising, Worthington said.

“It’s just amazing when you have a piece of land and you put a

sign on it,” he said. “They can see something, they have a concept

that has meat to it, and then the money starts coming.”