Bond Funds for New Library OKd

The City Council on Wednesday approved an allocation of more than $2.4 million in bond funds for the construction of a new Studio City branch library.

On the same day, a council panel gave the library department the green light to pursue another $467,157 from the state to fund the estimated $3.5-million project.

The replacement of the small, but popular Studio City library is the last in a long line of improvement projects conducted in the city’s library system using funds from a bond approved by voters in 1989.

The allocation approved by the council brings the budget for the project to $2.98 million, and library officials hope to secure the state library construction grant to bridge the financial gap.

But Fontayne Holmes, assistant director of branches, said the library system is optimistic that even if the state does not provide the grant, the city will break ground on a new facility by the end of the year.

Holmes said the 10,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art library would be nearly double the size of the existing building on Moorpark Street and Whitsett Avenue.

The old library would be demolished and the new facility rebuilt on the same and adjacent sites.

The new library is expected to have a children’s reading room and several computer stations with Internet access. Plans also call for a new 38-space, tree-lined parking lot.

The full council, which must approve the grant request before the library department can apply for the funds, is expected to hear the matter soon.