HUNTINGTON BEACH : Library Expansion Gets Final Approval

The City Council recently gave final approval to the $8.5-million expansion of the Huntington Beach Central Library, despite arguments by some council members that the financially strapped city cannot afford the project now.

The construction on the project is expected to get under way within weeks and take 18 months to complete.

When finished, Orange County’s largest library will get even bigger, with a new wing for children’s books and resources, an expanded computer and media center, meeting rooms and a theater that will serve as the permanent home of the Huntington Beach Playhouse.

Parking at the facility will be nearly doubled. Talbert Avenue--which now runs in front of the library and dead-ends at Golden West Street--will be eliminated to make way for the enlarged parking lot.

As interim financing for the project, the council last week agreed to use up to $5 million in previously approved bonds. The city has $10.2 million in approved bonds that it has not used because the council last year canceled a proposed parking structure that was to be built just north of the new municipal pier.

City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga recommends that after the project is finished, the council should issue new bonds to repay the $5 million, plus interest, to the city general fund.

At that time, the new parking and other facilities will be bringing in new city revenue. And within a few years, the city will also receive an estimated $3.3 million from library fees charged to developers of several massive new housing projects.

The $10.2 million in unused bonds has become a controversial issue in recent weeks, with council members and a citizens’ budget advisory panel expressing concern that it might unnecessarily contribute to the city’s budget problems.

Just hours before discussing the library project, council members were briefed by the 11-member task force on the city’s dismal fiscal outlook. To help cover the massive deficit, the panel recommended that the city either cut employees’ scheduled pay raises by 3% or lay off 19 full-time employees.

In light of those proposals, Councilmen Jack Kelly and Don MacAllister warned their colleagues about taking on a project the city may not be able to afford.

MacAllister said that although he supports the library expansion, “it is not fiscally responsible” at this time.

“How can we, no matter how much we support the project, go ahead with this now when we’re going to hell in a hand basket in debt?” he said.

Kelly said “it’s a dice-toss to try to forecast future economic environments and revenues. . . . I think we’re playing with dynamite here.”

Councilwoman Grace Winchell, however, criticized MacAllister and Kelly for following “a double standard,” based upon their support of recent housing developments.

“I wish my colleagues were so responsible when they approved 4,400 (housing) units in the Holly-Seacliff project and more in Bolsa Chica,” she said. “We don’t get our full costs back in those projects, and it could’ve been built in” through stricter development agreements.

Mayor Jim Silva for weeks has shared MacAllister’s and Kelly’s concerns about funding the project. But, in a surprise turnaround, Silva joined the council majority in backing the project.

“I think this is a library we can be proud of,” he said. “I just hope it’s a library we can afford.”