Donations pave way to fund Costa Mesa library

Costa Mesa appears to be a few thousand dollars closer to having a central library, as corporate and community benefactors have donated more than $10,000 to the cause over the last year.

In the late 1990s, a group of citizens started the Costa Mesa Library Foundation to raise funds for a 50,000-square-foot library near City Hall. Last summer, the City Council agreed to set aside the 2.5-acre Civic Center Park for 10 years as a potential library site while the foundation collected funds.

In the months since then, a number of supporters have stepped forward to chip in for the new facility. This spring, the Costa Mesa Women’s Club donated $500, while foundation president Barbara Davia contributed $1,000 of her own. The largest gift came from retired Boeing project manager Art Goddard, a Costa Mesa resident, who provided $5,000 — and then saw his former employer match it by half.

“I just know that library facilities in Costa Mesa are really below par compared to other cities like Orange, Fullerton, Escondido and Santa Clara,” Goddard said. “There are other cities like Costa Mesa, and we’re way behind in library services. I know they’re trying to get a new library in Costa Mesa and get us back on track, and I thought a donation like this would help the library foundation get it done.”

Goddard, who made his donation last December, has pledged to give $5,000 every year for a decade. The foundation’s total resources to date, according to Davia, were $11,204, nearly all of it coming in the last eight months.

Costa Mesa has three public libraries, all relatively small in size. The foundation — along with its fundraising partner, the Costa Mesa Friends of the Library — originally envisioned a 50,000-square-foot facility, although planning requirements for the Civic Center Park may reduce building space to half that much.

How much the new library will cost is uncertain at this point. The foundation intended to apply for a $20 million grant from the state if voters passed a $600 million library bond this year, but the measure failed in June. Even still, Davia — who called Boeing’s matching gift “a very nice surprise” — said her group was looking into alternate sources of funding.

“We’re doing a lot of research on other grants that could be available,” she said. “We’ll be applying for anything that looks remotely like they might support libraries.”