NEWPORT BEACH : Library Proposals Will Be Studied

Selection of an architect for a new library to replace the crowded Newport Center branch will be postponed two weeks so that city officials can study two design proposals.

In a meeting Monday night, city officials deferred action on a recommendation from the Library Board of Trustees to award a $710,000 design contract to Simon Martin-Vegue Winkelstein Morris in San Francisco, in conjunction with James L. Pirdy Inc. in Newport Beach.

Council members expressed concern over the details of that bid, which was 8% higher than a proposal from San Francisco-based Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons Inc. and Dorius Architects in Corona del Mar.

“I want to see the full proposals from the competing architects,” said Councilman Clarence J. Turner. “I want to look at details such as qualifications, travel time arrangements and any loopholes.”

The new $7-million, 50,000-square-foot library will be on four acres owned by the Irvine Co. and bordered by Pacific Coast Highway, Avocado Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard. That land is expected to be acquired in a no-cash land exchange between the company and city, said Assistant City Manager Ken Delino.

The deal, which is still being negotiated, will give the Irvine Co. the library building on two acres at 856 San Clemente Drive, Delino said.

“It’s complex,” Delino said. “But when everything is said and done, the (Irvine Co.) ends up getting an additional 22,500 square feet of entitlements by doing the swap.”

Entitlements are allowances to build office and commercial space in Newport Beach, Delino said.

Whatever the terms of the deal, library officials are eager to get on with the project.

“We’re very crowded now,” Assistant City Librarian Tom Johnson said. “We’re in the throes of using off-site storage.”

Johnson said the main library houses about 225,000 items and fields more than 126,000 questions a year.

“Success breeds success,” he said. “Usage keeps going up.”

The Friends of the Library have established a foundation to raise $1 million toward the cost of the new building, which is expected to open in 1992.