Funds are stumbling block to new library

Financing continues to be the major stumbling block for construction of a long-sought new library building for a Yorba Linda population expected to stabilize at about 70,000 by 2030.

A funding gap to build and equip a new facility currently is estimated to be from $3.9 million to $9.5 million of an anticipated $30 million to $31.5 million cost, according to a report presented to the City Council recently by Library Director Carrie Lixey.

And that's for a projected scaled-down version, with 45,000 square feet in a one-story structure and 225 parking stalls. The current library was last remodeled to 28,000 square feet in 1992, and patrons now average some 1,100 daily visits.

A council-designated preferred site for the facility is the so-called “strawberry field,” a 4.7 acre, city-owned parcel on the east side of Lakeview Avenue, south of the Lemon Drive intersection and north of the Stater Brothers center.

The largest chunk of cash accumulated for the project is $15 million expected to be in the library's reserve account at the end of the 2014-15 fiscal year. The library has a separate property tax stream from 71 years as an independent special district before merging with the city in 1985.

Another revenue source is $3 million the city could realize from the sale of 1.87 acres of the library's existing property and the adjacent former gasoline station site undergoing remediation for underground contamination, based on an estimate obtained in 2011.

An additional $4 million to $8.1 million could be borrowed, according to Lixey's report, with $250,000 to $500,000 annual repayments for 30 years. So far, $32,000 from library reserves has been spent on the project.

Funding prospects for a new library dimmed in early 2012, when the Yorba Linda Redevelopment Agency was dissolved, along with more than 400 others in the state, ending a program designed to eliminate blight and improve economic prospects in designated areas.

The city hoped to use proceeds from a 2011 bond to help finance construction, but rulings from the state Department of Finance and a veto by the governor of legislation authorizing use of the bond funds “has put the question to rest for the time being,” noted the city's report.

The new 45,000 square foot plan is below the 50,820 square feet envisioned in 2011, and the 0.64 square feet per capita is below a “best practices” recommendation of 0.75 square feet but above an average of 0.53 in eight other city libraries.

Interestingly, the new plan has more seats (up from 290 to 297), more computer stations (up from 104 to 121) and more parking stalls (up from 208 to 225) due to smaller staff areas and work counters and using more laptops and tablets. A one-story design also doesn't have stairwells and elevator shafts.

But the smaller proposal doesn't save money because of higher construction costs since 2011 and factors dealing with site preparation.