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MAY 2 4 1988
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council Meeting:
May 24, 1988
Santa Monica, California
TO:
Mayor and city Council
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FROM: City staff
SUBJECT: Request of Library Board for City council to Place Bond
Issue on November, 1988 Ballot
INTRODUCTION
This report transmits a letter from the Santa Monica Library
Board requesting the City Council to place a bond issue on the
November, 1988 ballot in order to purchase land adjacent to the
Main Library for its future expansion.
BACKGROUND
The Library Board is concerned that the recent refurbishment of
the Main Library did not include the addition of usable floor
space to the Main Library for expansion of its services and
materials collections. The study made by library space planner
Robert H. Rohlf in 1986 recommended that the Main Library be
enlarged to at least 87,000 square feet by the year 2000 in order
to meet the needs and demands of library users.
As a part of this study, the Library Board and Mr. Rohlf
conducted two public hearings on library space needs and learned
that the majority of people attending those meetings desired that
the Main Library remain in its present location and be enlarged
to accomodate the additional space. As a result, Mr. Rohlf
recommended that the residential and commercial property to the
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east of the library along Santa Monica Blvd. be acquired to
provide the needed space.
The Library Board endorsed this idea, and suggested that the
property could be used initially to provide additional parking
for library users until such time as sufficient funds were
available to provide for library expansion costs.
BUDGET/FINANCIAL IMPACT
City staff has determined the costs to acquire this property,
relocate the tenants of the buildings and residences that
presently occupy the land, raze the buildings and create parking
spaces, to be between $3.5 and $4 million. staff has advised the
Library Board that the way to raise these funds would be the
issuance of general obligation bonds. The Board has approved the
concept of a bond campaign to acquire the property now for a
future expansion when funds are available.
LIBRARY BOARD ACTION
At its regular meeting of April 19, 1988, the Library Board voted
to direct Library Board Chairperson Mary Lou Harbison to
communicate its concern that the bond issue be placed on the
November ballot. They also appointed H. Richard Horst to chair a
special citizens. support committee to organize and conduct a
campaign on behalf of the bond issue.
RECOMMENDATION
City staff recommends that the city Council approve the request
of the Library Board and take the appropriate action necessary to
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place on the November, 1988 ballot a measure calling for a bond
issue in order to purchase property adjacent to the Main Library
fronting Santa Monica Blvd. for future expansion and to be used
temporarily to provide additional parking.
Attachment: Letter from Library Board
Prepared by: Carol A. Aronoff
City Librarian
(libbond)
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SANTA
M;ONI:CA
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Santa Momca Library
(213) 458-8603
1343 SIxth Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401-1603
April 25, 1988
Honorable Mayor and city council
City of Santa Monica
1685 Main st.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Dear Mayor Conn and Members of the City Council,
The Santa Monica Library Board has communicated with the City
Council on more than one occasion its concern that the Main
Library is in need of additional space for its collections and
services. We had hoped that the recent remodel would help to
alleviate some of the libraryts crowded conditions.
Unfortunately, sufficient funds proved to be unavailable to add
even a modest amount of additional space.
The libraryfs space planner, Robert H. Rohlf, recommended in his
1986 report that the Main Library be enlarged to at least 87,000
square feet in order to meet the needs and demands of its users
by the year 2000. His report also recommended that the Main
Library remain in its present location, and the commercial and
residential property to the east of the library along Santa
Monica Blvd. be acquired to provide the needed space. The
Library Board is most anxious for the City to acquire this
property, so as to preclude its possible development and loss to
the city for library expansion, and so that in the interim it may
be used to provide additional parking for users of the library.
We therefore request that you take the action necessary to add to
the November, 1988 ballot a measure calling for a bond issue to
raise the funds needed to acquire this property. Knowing that
such an action will require wide-ranging public support, we have
already created a citizens' com~ittee to work on behalf of its
passage. It is chaired by H. Richard Horst, former Chair of the
Library Board, and immediate past Chair of the Friends of the
Library.
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We look forward to working with each of you in support of this
worthwhile measure. We call upon each one of you to pledge
yourselves to work for its successful passage to insure that the
needs of the public for adequate library services can be met.
Sincerely,
~>fou~
Mary Lou Harbison, Chair
Library Board
Library Board Members:
Mary Lou Harbison, Chair
Phil Kaufman, vice Chair
Barry Boehm
Edmund Morris
Ida Trives
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