NEWPORT BEACH : $500,000 Matching Fund Given Library

The Newport Beach Public Library Foundation has received its first major donation in four months of fund-raising to pay for the city’s new, $7-million main branch.

The Harry and Grace Steele Foundation matching grant will donate one dollar for every dollar raised from other sources up to $500,000. Elizabeth Stahr, co-chair of the library foundation, said the grant funds are retroactive to November, when the foundation began its campaign.

The grant pushes the foundation halfway to its $1-million goal. Last year, the city donated $6 million of the project’s total cost and created the 24-member foundation to raise money for the new library, which will be replace the 14,000-square-foot building in Newport Center.

The council has approved preliminary design plans for the new 50,000-square-foot building and will consider design plans in the spring, according to Tom Johnson, assistant city librarian.

Last week, the council approved adding 2,000 square feet to the new building for expansion of the public meeting room and a study area, Johnson said.

Too little space for books and other materials at the main library and its three smaller branches prompted officials to draft plans for a larger building. The new facility will feature a reading area for new books, paperbacks, magazines and newspapers. The building will also have enough space for the library system’s complete collection.

Johnson said construction on the building may begin as early as this fall, with completion planned for 1993.