Plan to Move Library Stalemated : Palmdale: Talks to put the books in a vacant J.C. Penney store have collapsed. A grant to build a facility may be sought.

A plan to relocate Palmdale’s cramped city library into larger quarters in a vacant J.C. Penney store has fallen into limbo seven months after its adoption by the City Council, at least in part because the owner has refused to allow the city to inspect the building.

City property agent Roger Cunningham and the store’s owner, a partnership headed by Reseda businessman Melvyn Starkman, confirmed Wednesday that negotiations over a possible city lease have collapsed, with no clear prospect for any future agreement.

As a result, city Librarian Linda Storsteen said she expects the city’s 13-year-old library adjoining City Hall to stay put for the foreseeable future. Storsteen said she is concentrating on pursuing a state grant to build an entirely new library.

Storsteen said many library patrons have been asking about the expected move, especially after the J.C. Penney Co. vacated the store two weeks ago to open a store in the new Antelope Valley Mall in Palmdale.

Aware of those impending plans in February, the City Council voted to pursue a lease of the 31,000-square-foot store. The building has nearly three times the space of the city’s current 12,000-square-foot library, which has been strained to accommodate Palmdale’s growing population.

The existing library is too small for the city’s swelling book collection, suffers from poor lighting, is not accessible to the handicapped and has potential earthquake hazards. After dropping a renovation plan months ago, city officials said they would find some other use for the building.

City officials envisioned the store lease as at least an interim solution to the city’s library needs. At minimum, the city planned to use the building for several years until it could find the money to build a new library. But if those plans failed, the stay there could have been much longer.

The lease talks, however, never got off the ground because Starkman has consistently refused to permit the city to inspect the building and property for hazardous waste, asbestos or other potential concerns, Cunningham said. He called such inspections standard procedure before leases.

In an interview, Starkman declined to explain his stance or even acknowledge that his refusal to grant the city access was the main reason for the stalemate. “There were various reasons involved,” he said. “At this point it’s dormant. We don’t know exactly what we’re going to do.”

Starkman’s position has led to speculation by some city officials that there might be a problem with the building in downtown Palmdale, or that he might be looking to sell the building along with an adjoining old shopping center also owned by his partnership. Starkman declined to comment.

Storsteen, meanwhile, said a major reorganization of the city’s original library in May helped ease its space crunch.