COUNTY BUDGET FUNDS TO TURN CASTAIC LIBRARY DREAMS INTO REALITY.

Byline: SUE DOYLE Staff Writer

Tales of new libraries coming to north Los Angeles County have at times seemed more fiction than fact, but now they can be classified as real life.

Two new branches of the Los Angeles County Public Library are in the works to serve Castaic and Acton, with $3.4 million earmarked for them in the county's 2006-07 budget. The county Board of Supervisors approved the budget Monday.

Although plans for the Acton branch are already under way, this is a first step for a library to serve Castaic. About $2 million was budgeted for design plans and development of the future facility.

``It's nice to see the money. We don't feel we're getting enough of it,'' said John Kunak, Castaic Town Council member. ``It's nice to see they're working toward it, and we'd like to see it happen.''

Kunak said council members have been looking at ways to bring a public library to the area for the last six years. Talks have included joint use with the county and William S. Hart Union High School District to make it part of Castaic's new high school, planned to open in 2010. The school will sit in the 3,900-unit Northlake housing development being built along Castaic Lake's northern bluffs.

Although the new high school is one possible location for the library, the county is also considering other places and recently hired a consultant to evaluate the needs of the area, said Lori Glasgow, budget and library deputy for county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

``We're open to all options,'' Glasgow said. ``At this point, nothing has been closed out.''

Meanwhile hammers will start swinging soon in Acton as the 10,874-square-foot public library is nearing construction time.

Planned to open in January 2009, the building will sit on Crown Valley Road on land donated by the Brevidoro Family Trust. A legacy in the area, the Brevidoros moved to Acton in 1935 and started a lilac ranch.

Acton's library got its start from a state bond measure passed by voters in 2000 for $350 million in library construction. From the bond, the library system received about $4.6 million for Acton's library and then found matching funds from the county, said Nancy Mahr, Los Angeles County Public Library spokeswoman.

Castaic and Acton residents have long clamored for nearby public libraries and today can receive their spy novels, love stories and children's books from bookmobiles that ramble across the area's winding canyon roads.

These bookmobiles will find their routes coming to an end when the new libraries open. But the books-on-wheels service will continue to hit the road.

``It just may mean that we can find some new stops for the bookmobile,'' Mahr said. ``The area keeps expanding.''