Redondo Seeks Mall Space as Site for Interim Library : Facilities: The Main Library at Veterans Park was forced to close because of quake damage. City officials decided against moving to temporary space in a portable structure.

Forced to scramble by the quake-forced closure of the Main Library at Veterans Park, the Redondo Beach City Council has dropped plans to set up an interim library in a portable structure next spring and instead opted to seek library space now at the new Redondo Shores shopping mall.

The council Tuesday voted 3 to 2, with members Kay Horrell and Terry Ward dissenting, to begin negotiating a three-year lease for an interim library at the recently opened retail center at Pacific Coast Highway at Carnelian Street. Tenants include Thrifty drugstore, Blockbuster Video and Mrs. Gooch’s grocery.

City Manager William E. Kirchhoff said an interim library could be in place in three or four weeks once an agreement is reached. That’s several months sooner than the speediest plans to erect the portable facility at Veterans Park, he said.

The Veterans Park library, a city landmark, has been scheduled for the past two years to undergo seismic retrofitting. However, the city was forced to close the structure early on July 5 after inspectors found that the June 28 Sierra Madre earthquake or its aftershocks had caused massive cracking in the pillars supporting the library’s west wing. It will not reopen until the work is done, and could become a branch library or be used for other city purposes.

Initial plans had been to shut down the Main Library next spring and move its 100,000-volume collection into a $1.5-million portable structure that would be erected next door. Meanwhile, the city is building a new municipal library next to City Hall.

After the quake, the city engineer suggested moving up the opening date of the interim library by three months and setting up a branch library in the meantime at Patterson School. But that option fell through on Tuesday after Kirchhoff told the council the modular portable structure would need costly rehabilitation if it was to be used for other purposes after the interim library was no longer necessary.

Moreover, he said, setting up a branch at Patterson School would displace a number of community groups, as well as three wedding receptions scheduled for the cafeteria in coming months.

“(Moving the library to Patterson School) would have saved a lot of money, but it would have ruined a lot of plans,” said Mayor Brad Parton, adding he was particularly sympathetic to those with upcoming nuptials, since his own wedding is scheduled early next month.

The Redondo Shores location is a new option that became available late this spring, when the shopping center opened for business. An initial offer from the owners came before the council on Tuesday--a three-year lease on 18,700 square feet of space on two floors for $1.44 million--but the council turned it down.

“I don’t believe the terms set forth here tonight are fair to the city, and I think we can get somebody to negotiate a better deal for us,” Councilman Stevan Colin said.

Meanwhile, the council kept open the option of buying the modular facility as an interim library in the event a leasing agreement can’t be reached with owners of Redondo Shores.

The council also allocated $100,000 for the shoring and scaffolding of the Veterans Park library and waived the formal bidding process for the construction under an emergency clause.

The seismic work on the structure is expected to take until 1992, when a variety of community groups, ranging from the historic society to a senior citizens organization to the library program, will begin competing for space in the building.