Temporary Library in Park Rejected

Where to put a temporary library has once again become cause for confusion in Redondo Beach after the city Recreation and Parks Commission’s rejection of a proposal to place the building in Veterans Park.

In a 9-0 vote Thursday night, the panel turned down a plan to erect a temporary facility next to the city’s Main Library, which is in the park. Commission Chairwoman Kandi Lancaster, who had expressed support for the proposal last month, said she and other panel members became concerned that parkland might be lost forever.

“By the time we saw the plan, it seemed to be a pretty permanent-looking temporary building,” Lancaster said Friday. “There were no guarantees of how long ‘temporary’ was.”

The Main Library has been judged seismically unsound and too small for the city’s needs. The City Council wants to transfer city books to a temporary site while a new Main Library is built and the present building is reinforced so it can be put to other uses.

Council members last month endorsed a proposal to place a temporary library in Veterans Park, but asked for the city’s Library and Recreation and Parks commissions’ opinion. Though the Library Commission endorsed the plan, the overwhelming rejection by the Recreation and Parks Commission is sending city officials back to the drawing board.

City Engineer Ken Montgomery said on Friday: “Now we’ll go back to the City Council, report the results and say, ‘What do you want to do now?’ ”