Buena Park Library Closes for Asbestos Removal, Renovation

The Buena Park Library will be closed to the public for the next six weeks while asbestos is removed from its ceilings and old carpeting is replaced in the three-story building.

Dozens of truck trailers were loaded with furniture Thursday, and about 150,000 books were taken to the library’s basement and a second-floor storage room, library director Colleen McGregor said.

The trailers will remain in the library’s parking lot until the project is completed March 6, McGregor said. The library, at 7150 La Palma Ave., is scheduled to reopen March 9.

Asbestos was discovered on the first- and second-floor ceilings last August by an insurance inspector, McGregor said.

“Asbestos was used as a fire retardant 20 years ago when the library was built,” McGregor said. “A hazard would only have occurred if there was an earthquake and the asbestos was released into the air conditioners.”

Asbestos is known to cause cancer and respiratory diseases.

McGregor said that the library was not being forced to remove the asbestos but that “in the long run, it made no sense to take a risk.”

The decision to remove the asbestos coincided with the library’s plan to replace 3,500 square yards of carpet.

The renovation and asbestos removal project will cost $434,000, with more than one-third coming from a community block grant from the city, McGregor said. The cost will be high because the ceilings on the first and second floor will have to be replaced after the removal of the asbestos, she added.