Mariners project isn’t overdue

June Casagrande

The Mariners joint-use library project is moving ahead on time and on

budget and is expected to break ground next summer.

The City Council got an update at their meeting Tuesday on the

15,000-square-foot public library that will also serve as the school

library for Mariners Elementary students.

“It’s looking great,” City Councilman Don Webb said. “I’m really

excited about getting it going.”

Perhaps the best news of the library planning is that mature trees

now lining Irvine Boulevard at the project site will remain standing.

Their fate was in question as the city’s architect considered ways to

design the project. By increasing the stretch of land between the

street and the project’s parking lot, the trees can remain. This

increase will also shift the parking area and the building slightly

east from the spot first envisioned.

An ad-hoc committee to help design the library has selected a

two-toned exterior combining sand-colored plaster with slightly

lighter-colored concrete.

The nearly $5-million project is being funded with a combination

of state grant money and local donations. The library is known

officially as the Donna and John Crean Mariners Branch Library in

honor of the benefactors who helped the city meet its fund-raising

deadline with a $500,000 donation.

Some community members opposed the library out of fear that

combining the public library with the school facility could put

students in harm’s way. That opposition was defeated when proponents

emphasized their intent to keep the school and public areas separate.

The joint-use nature of the library was necessary to qualify for the

state grant money, which had been earmarked specifically for such

combination projects.

Construction is expected to take about a year, meaning the library

could open about two years from now.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

[email protected].