O.C. Museum Checking Out Library Space : Art: With its big expansion plans on hold, Newport Harbor officials are considering moving into the building next door as well as opening two satellite galleries in local cities.

Its proposed $40-million expansion stalled indefinitely, the Newport Harbor Art Museum is exploring a more modest expansion into a library building adjacent to its current site, according to documents filed with the California Arts Council.

Museum officials also have told the council they are negotiating with two Orange County cities to open satellite galleries.

The museum “will become even more important (to the region) if it is able to acquire the library facility and thereby expand its public galleries,” Ronald B. Bratton, chief deputy director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, told the CAC after speaking with several top Newport Harbor officials in July.

Bratton had visited Newport Harbor to help the CAC evaluate the museum’s request for a grant this year. His visit came in the wake of low council ratings that had placed this year’s grant proposal in jeopardy.

The Newport Beach Central Library is expected to move into a new site in Newport Beach near Pacific Coast Highway late next year. The land on which the museum and the library now stand is owned by the Irvine Co., which has made an open-ended offer to donate 10 acres of land for a new museum building. But museum officials have been unable to secure enough further funding.

Museum director Michael Botwinick said Tuesday, that museum officials have merely asked Irvine Co. officials to discuss the possibility of using the library space. “No conversation of any meaningful kind” has transpired with the development firm, he said.

Irvine Co. spokeswoman Dawn McCormick agreed Tuesday that the firm has had “informal inquiries from the museum” about using the library, “but nothing has gone beyond that.” She said she does not know when any further discussions might take place.

Museum officials have long expressed the desire for more exhibition space than their 23,000-square foot building provides. They are unable to display much of the museum’s permanent collection while making room for touring exhibits.

The museum, facing a $768,702 accumulated deficit and ongoing economic recession, has indefinitely postponed plans to construct a new, substantially larger building. Botwinick said the notion of expanding into the library arose several months ago as “just a good idea.” He would not say whether the Irvine Co. has been receptive to the idea.

As for Bratton’s report to the CAC that the museum also is “negotiating with two other cities . . . to open small galleries” funded by those cities, Botwinick acknowledged that the museum has discussed such a possibility with “several” cities.

But because discussions are in preliminary stages, he declined to name two cities he claims are “very interested” in the plan. He said financial support probably would not come exclusively from cities, but more likely would entail a public-private partnership.

“Part of the plan we have been talking about for months now (regarding) outreach has been to explore cooperative ventures,” he said. “I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback within the board and Orange County to this idea.”

The museum’s long-range planning committee will discuss both options again this month and next, he said.