Preliminary Library Plans to Be Displayed

Preliminary designs of Burbank’s newest library--including an amphitheater, fiber optics and windows that look out onto an adjacent park--will be on display Thursday night at Buena Vista Library.

Public comment will be taken on the plans for the library to be built on the southeast corner of Buena Vista Street and Verdugo Avenue, diagonally across from the existing 8,075-square-foot Buena Vista Library, which dates back 52 years.

The new facility, designed for 28,000 square feet by architect Steve Finney, will also have a large “exciting and attractive” children’s area, said John Fuchs, library services director. It may even include images of Warner Bros. characters under a proposal that was to be considered Tuesday night by the Burbank City Council.

“It’s a great library,” Fuchs said. “It will be easy for the public to see where things are. The community will be proud of it and it will be heavily used.”

A total of $9 million has been budgeted to build both the library and a park on the 5.4-acre parcel the city bought from the Burbank Unified School District for $8 million in 1998, said Rich Inga, deputy city manager.

The school district has since moved its headquarters from the property and Community Day School, which remains, will be relocated before grading for the library starts in January, Fuchs said.

Construction of the library, expected to take 1 1/2 years, will begin in March, with a simultaneous opening of the library and park planned for October 2002. The existing Buena Vista Library will remain open during construction.

Conceptual plans call for a “passive park” with perhaps a small tot play area, said Jan Bartolo, deputy director of the city’s Park Services Division.

“We want it to complement the library. We don’t want a conflicting use,” Bartolo said. “It will be like an outdoor extended area of the library.”

Thursday’s meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at Buena Vista Library, 401 N. Buena Vista St.