By Jorge Casuso

March 27, 2012 -- Santa Monica is expected to take a concrete step Tuesday to construct the first library in the city's poorest and most diverse area, meeting a demand from a Pico Neighborhood Community Plan that dates back to 1983.

In preparation for construction of the 7,500-square-foot facility at Virginia Avenue Park, the City Council will be asked by staff Tuesday to award a $768,020 contract to Swinerton Management and Consulting to provide construction management services.

The $12.8-million construction project will be bankrolled with Redevelopment Agency (RDA) funds committed by the council last May, less than one month before State Governor Jerry Brown dissolved some 400 RDAs across the state to help bridge California's $9.2 billion deficit.

Proposed Library for Pico. Photo courtesy City of Santa Monica.

Designed by the Santa Monica firm Koning Eizenberg Architects, the library will consist of a single-story, 8,630-square-foot building directly adjacent to Virginia Park's existing Thelma Terry Building. The site plan maintains the existing park green space and vendor stalls for the Saturday Farmers Market.

"The library would fulfill the community’s needs for a local library that would provide educational and cultural programming, and would consist of adult, teen, and children’s collections, study rooms, seating and story areas, and a community meeting room," staff wrote in a report to council.

The proposed library, as well as its location and design, is the result of more than 70 public outreach meetings and informational presentations, "ranging in size from personal one-on-one meetings to large public workshops held at the Thelma Terry Center," according to staff.

The Virginia Avenue Park site was picked after the council turned down a proposal by the Pico Improvement Organization (PIO) for a three-to-four story “ground up, mixed use, state-of-the-art” facility organization leaders said would enliven the neighborhood's main thoroughfare.

The PIO noted that its proposal would fulfill a vision first expressed in the 1983 Pico Neighborhood Community Plan, which, according to City staff, “suggested combining existing private sector commercial activities with public uses to include a library and a post office.”

But the projected $30 million cost of the library, including site acquisition, prompted the council to go with the far less pricey option at the City-owned park.

Pico residents have long advocated for their own library branch, even though the existing Fairview Branch Library at 2101 Ocean Park Boulevard, which opened in 1956, is less that a mile from the Pico Neighborhood.