Corona to Restore Its Civic Center Despite High Cost

Officials say they are determined to restore and expand the civic center, one of the last reminders of Corona’s rural roots, despite its $44-million price tag.

The Spanish Revival-style center, built in 1923, is in good shape structurally, but the once-spacious quarters now are seriously overcrowded. The city has been forced to lease additional space elsewhere.

Just four miles from the Orange County line and a haven for those seeking affordable housing, Corona almost doubled in population to 61,000 between 1981 and 1988. Growth is expected to continue, with some projecting 125,000 residents in the next 20 years.

The explosion in population has led to an increase in city services. Expansion plans call for tripling to 128,500 square feet the amount of space devoted to city offices and building a 54,000-square-foot police station and a parking structure to hold 810 vehicles. The civic center would be renovated, including earthquake reinforcement and the removal of asbestos, and restored.

On Tuesday, Pacific Associates Planners Architects Inc., a consulting firm based in San Diego, unveiled a master plan preserving the center’s architectural style and creating a village-like atmosphere around it with nine one- and two-story buildings surrounded by gardens, trees and benches.

The new buildings, each retaining the center’s architectural style, would be built on property north of the existing civic center, which faces 6th Street. The only visible new building from 6th Street will be a new council chambers, which is proposed for the east of the existing buildings.

“They have to be prepared to spend extra to preserve the architectural heritage,” local architect William Kovacs said of the cost.

Consultants “have been historically sensitive to the site and have really done a good job,” said Councilman Richard Deininger, who also is a member of a special advisory committee on the civic center.

“This is the most practical, most aesthetically pleasing” plan, he said.

Deininger is among the majority of the City Council--as well as city preservationists--who decided in 1986 to renovate the existing City Hall building rather than buy land and move elsewhere. Consultants say that either way, the cost would be the same.

The building, featuring ornate carvings of books, globes and scrolls, as well as arched windows and walkways, originally housed the Corona High School. But in the late 1930s, based on new state earthquake standards, the building was declared unsound for use as a school.

In the early 1960s, the city needed new headquarters. The school building was leased and then, in 1971, purchased outright for $235,000.

“It was a nice set-up for us,” said A.J. (Dutch) Velthoen, who was mayor of Corona in the early 1960s. “People would visit town, and they would admire it and say, ‘What a beautiful building.’ ”

The major hurdle is cost, and some city officials are concerned about the reliability of the estimate.

“I am a skeptic,” Mayor William Miller said. “There are a lot of unknowns when you do a major rehabilitation. We just don’t know.

“I’m not convinced that the cost of rehabilitation is less than new construction.”

Council members are expected to consider levying a fee on developers of homes, businesses and industrial sites in the city as a way of paying for the project. Still, such a plan could be expected to pay for only one-third of the overall cost, said Nora Lake-Brown, a financial consultant with Williams Kuebelback & Associates.

Also discussed has been the sale of general obligation bonds. But city officials said voters are unlikely to approve such a sale, given recent experience and the two-thirds majority required for approval.

In 1988, a $7.4-million bond issue was approved to finance renovation of the Corona Public Library. But by late last year, actual costs had doubled the original estimate. Last month, the City Council allocated almost $8 million in money originally earmarked for civic center renovation to pay for the library project.

“I don’t think the public cares about their City Hall on a day-to-day basis,” Miller said. “They’ve got other things to worry about, like high mortgage payments.”

Miller is among the council members who instead favor handing the project over to a private developer.