CITY HALL — The branch library and adjoining Fire Station 26 on the 1100 block of North Brand Boulevard have, by most accounts, seen better days.
On Tuesday, the City Council is expected to appropriate a combined $415,600 to help alleviate antiquated conditions at the two facilities.
The funds were approved months ago, when the City Council adopted a sweeping $167.8-million, 10-year capital improvement budget set against myriad project priorities citywide.
But the $415,600 fell through the cracks and never made it into the final draft, city officials said, and so the appropriation Tuesday is essentially playing catch-up.
Of the total appropriation, $300,000 would go to Fire Station 26 to completely redo the second-floor bathroom facilities and incorporate a designated women’s restroom. The funds would also be used to reconstruct ground-level flooring that is “basically coming apart,” Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said.
Once the appropriation is finalized as expected, fire officials would be able to start designing the project and begin the construction bidding process, he added.
The Casa Verdugo Branch Library, which adjoins the fire station, is further along in its upgrades, having already received $419,000 to revamp the interior’s space to deal with disability access and overcrowding, libraries Director Cindy Cleary said.
The branch library will receive the remaining $115,600 to help finish the project, which includes an interior redesign, new furnishings, carpeting and a reconfiguration to accommodate more computers, Cleary said.
“It’s just really outgrown its capacity for more books,” she said of the building.
The upgrades to both facilities are largely considered stopgap measures to keep the buildings up to task for a few more years, when city officials said they hope a better economic picture will allow for more permanent replacements.
City Manager Jim Starbird would not venture a guess on how long that would be, but he said it was years off.
The City Council earlier this year agreed to fund the upgrades in the absence of any clear picture of when a permanent solution to cramped quarters for both the fire station and library could be determined.
For library and fire officials, that day couldn’t come soon enough.
“This is purely a stopgap measure because we feel that station needs to be totally redone,” Scoggins said.
Fire Station 29 on Honolulu Avenue in Montrose is in similar need, but is in a better funding position as part of the so-called “triple play” initiated by the $8.25-million purchase of the Rockhaven Sanitarium.
The 3.3-acre historic site will likely be home to an all-new Montrose library, which would free up the space for Fire Station 29 to expand its footprint.
While major funding for that rotation is also not expected for years to come, new tax money from a future retail anchor on the city-owned lot across the street could help subsidize capital plans, city officials said.
JASON WELLS covers City Hall. He may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at jason.wells@latimes.com.
