COUNCIL SEEKS DATA ON PLAN FOR LIBRARY.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

The City Council told staff members to gather more information about costs and other issues involved in building a new Canyon Country Library.

After a discussion Tuesday about possible sites, council members agreed that a building across from the new Edwards movie theater complex on Soledad Canyon Road looked like the best solution, said Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy.

But the members said they wanted more information about that site and a few others, she said.

``The council agrees - we want to do this,'' Darcy said Thursday. ``It would have to come out of the general fund, which takes away from Parks and Recreation and stuff like that . . . but we hear a lot of people from Canyon Country saying they don't have a decent library.''

The city's libraries are operated and paid for by Los Angeles County. But because the county does not have money to expand facilities, the council has discussed using some of its own money to speed the process.

Currently, the Canyon Country Library on Soledad Canyon Road is only 5,050 square feet, significantly smaller than the Valencia Library at 23,966 square feet and smaller than what it should be for the area's population.

Population estimates for the year 2020 show that the area will need an 18,000- to 20,000-square-foot facility by 2020, city officials said.

Compared to the Valencia Library, the Canyon Country Library has fewer computer services, fewer special programs and a difficult vehicle entrance and exit, Darcy said.

Mayor Jan Heidt suggested that improving the Canyon Country facility could spur other improvements that could ease library crowding in the future.

By using the Internet and other high-tech tools, the city could create a way for people to get research materials without going into a branch, Heidt said.

``We have lots of resources. There are libraries at the junior highs, the high schools, the colleges. We need to explore ways of maximizing the resources we have now,'' Heidt said. ``We should do more online and explore other alternatives. One new library isn't going to do it.''

For the property near the Edwards cinema, the developer has expressed interest in working with the city to include a library in the cluster of retail stores, officials said.

Still, the lease could be expensive. The city would have to come up with $500,000 for public improvements and up to $3 million to make the lease affordable, a staff report states.

``The county says it has no dollars, but they did say they would give everything from the smaller library to the new one,'' Darcy said. ``The kicker is, we'd have the same number of staff people, even though it would be three times the size.''

The developer is working on securing an anchor store for the shopping center, which could happen by the middle of next year. Construction would follow soon afterward.

If the city does lease space from the developer, it will have to find another use for a lot it already owns across from Canyon High School. The site, which is sloped, is not considered a good location for a library because of limited public access, Darcy said.

At Tuesday's meeting, Councilman Frank Ferry suggested working with the high school to develop a cultural arts center, especially since theater space is lacking in the city.

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PHOTO (Color) Andrew Grimm, 3, visits the Canyon Country Library on Thursday. The City Council wants to build a larger facility elsewhere.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News