A Little Book-Juggling Ends Dispute Over Library Site

Calabasas, Agoura Hills and Westlake Village each wanted to be the site of a new county library, so library officials decided to juggle the books.

Instead of building one supermarket-sized library to serve the three communities, Los Angeles County officials have decided to build a little library for each.

The decision, announced Tuesday night, ends a tug of war between the three communities over the location of a replacement for the cramped, 16-year-old Las Virgenes branch library, which is in an Agoura storefront.

County Librarian Linda Crismond told the Agoura Hills City Council that the three-way library plan will keep each community close to a library.

She said she is proposing a 30,000-square-foot, earth-sheltered library that could go in the city-owned Chumash Park for Agoura Hills.

Westlake Village’s branch would be a 15,000-square-foot building on an Agoura Road site being donated to the city by an industrial park developer.

Calabasas’ would be 10,000 square feet and be built on a parcel west of Las Virgenes Road that has been deeded to the county.

Crismond cautioned, however, that each community will have to come up with donations, redevelopment funds and federal grants to pay the $125 per square foot construction costs for the libraries.

“The county has no capital construction money for libraries,” she said. “I’m throwing the ball into your court.”