Calabasas library to get a new home
By Gregory Koteles
Special to The Acorn

Calling it "the most landlord-oriented lease that I have ever seen," Calabasas City Councilwoman Lesley Devine voted with City Councilman Michael Harrison against a contract to lease a 12,000 square-foot space to temporarily house the city library.

The council approved the lease by a narrow 3-2 vote, electing to move the library from its current location on Mureau Road to "Building B" of Calabasas Park Center on Park Sorrento, near The Commons.

City Councilman Dennis Washburn called the contract "an affordable lease" and justified his position by saying that his purpose was "to provide service to the community … not to squander money."

Likewise, City Councilman James Bozajian supported the motion to rent the property.

"There comes a time when you have to have a little finality," said Bozajian. He pointed out that land to construct a new civic center (including a new library building) had been purchased in 1999, but had thus far remained empty and unused.

However, the motion to approve the lease was met with strong opposition from Devine and Harrison.

"This absolutely kills any chance of getting a grant from the state," said Harrison.

Though he felt that the probability of receiving an endowment from the state library fund was "slim," Harrison argued that by eliminating the factors of age and condition of the library and its not meeting the needs of residents that the chances of capturing a state grant would become nil.

"We’re guaranteed to pay too much," Harrison said of the lease. He cited several problems he had with the 58-page contract, from the "non-usable" space included in the square footage to the operating expenses.

Harrison also objected to the monthly rate—$2.12 initially, up to $2.16 per square foot—and the half of the leased space that wouldn’t be used to house the library’s current collection of books. Harrison also took issue with the 45-month lease period; he unsuccessfully urged that it be reduced to 24 months.

Devine called the lease "fiscally irresponsible" and asked the council to delay the contract until other alternatives could be explored.

"If you’re going to do something that is very expensive," said Devine Sunday, "make sure you look at all your alternatives, not just what real estate brokers want to show you."

Devine advocated the possibility of restoring the old Calabasas school house (more recently Pelican’s Retreat) and placing the interim library on that site.

"A little patience is all I asked," she said. "Give it two weeks to find out if it was good idea or not and what the cost comparison would be. Such a comparison might come out with a long-range plan, which over a five-year period could save the city as much as $10,000 to $15,000 a month."

No study was conducted by the city or authorized by the council to study the feasibility of such a plan. And though Devine did not discuss the specifics of the lease contract, she concurred with Harrison that moving the library into Building B would effectively eliminate the possibility of receiving "up to $3 million to $4 million potentially" in state matching funds.

Ultimately, however, the recommendation of the library commission to accept the contract swayed the other three members of the council.

The library, which currently occupies a 4,000 square-foot space in the city hall building, needs an additional 2,000 square feet for shelf space because much of its collection is packed away in boxes. And a growing city staff (for office and storage) needs some of the space used by the already overcrowded library facility.

A 20,000 square-foot library building is being planned for the future Calabasas civic center—still in the early design phases—but that structure isn’t expected to be finished for at least two years.

"We’ve chosen a luxury building and a luxury library," said Devine. "I think we made a lot of mistakes in accepting this lease, but we’ll see— maybe it will work out."