Arts and education center may need public money

Stacy Brown

NEWPORT BEACH--An ad hoc committee looking into development of a

$12-million, 22,000-square-foot arts and education center at the Central

Library may seek public funding, a library board trustee said Friday.

The disclosure contradicts earlier statements that only private funding

would be sought.

Patrick Bartolic, a board trustee, said the committee would exhaust all

means to raise the $12 million before seeking help from the City Council.

But he said there’s a 40% chance the committee will need help.

“It would be more feasible if we can present our plan to the City Council

as a privately funded center,” Bartolic said. “The hope is that we will

raise the money. If we can’t, we’ll come up with a proposal to say we

will raise or attempt to raise the money, and failing that, we may have

to ask the city for help.”

Newport Beach officials this week greeted the idea with excitement. But

this latest news may cool some of that enthusiasm.

“The fact that there are different thoughts on how it would be funded is

evidence that this hasn’t been decided yet,” Newport Beach Mayor Dennis

O’Neil said.

And while the plans sound good, O’Neil said he would await a proposal

before making any judgments.

The center would be home to a 400-seat auditorium, 6,000-square-foot

reception hall, public art gallery, three classrooms and administrative

offices, with a pedestrian bridge connecting it to the library, said Jim

Wood, chairman of the Newport Beach Public Library Board of Trustees. The

facility would also have a two-tier, underground parking structure.

Bartolic said the center would be owned by the city, and an appointed

committee would oversee operations.

Bartolic said the center would fill a need in the community, and could

serve as a venue for town hall and homeowners association meetings.

“Quality communities all have some form of a cultural center,” Bartolic

said. “We don’t really have that, and that is one of the goals.”

When the concept was introduced to the public earlier this week at the

Newport Beach Library Board of Trustees meeting, some concerns were

raised over whether fund-raising efforts for the center would conflict

with the library’s foundation, which is about halfway through a campaign

to raise a $2.5-million endowment. But any potential conflict was

eliminated when Wood promised the endowment, which should be reached by

next spring, would have precedence.

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