Corona del Mar ‘fibrary’ construction to start in April after $8.3M in contracts OK’d

Construction workers will soon be turning over dirt for Corona del Mar’s new “fibrary.”

The Newport Beach City Council approved a package of contracts Tuesday totaling $8.3 million for the fire station/library complex to replace the aging facilities currently serving the area.

Orange-based Telacu Construction Management Inc. received the construction contract, valued at $6.7 million. Construction management, design and other support services by other contractors, plus contingencies and agreements for a temporary fire station while building is underway, bring the total to $8.3 million.

An anticipated influx of developer fees reignited the project, which was put on hold last year because of budget concerns. Groundbreaking is planned for April 10, and work is expected to take 14 to 15 months, with the grand opening expected in summer 2019, according to city Deputy Public Works Director Mark Vukojevic.

Preliminary design, outreach, engineering and bidding work completed before the project was suspended a year ago adds about $492,000 to the price tag, putting the overall cost at about $8.8 million.

The current Corona del Mar branch library and fire station were built separately but adjacent about 60 years ago at East Coast Highway and Marigold Avenue.

The fire station’s crew operates in a single-wide trailer onsite because the building doesn’t meet current code.

Design features on the new 10,314-square-foot building include an outdoor reading porch and stroller parking — ideas culled from the community, Vukojevic said.

The temporary fire station will be in a parking lot at the Oasis Senior Center, about a quarter-mile away.

The City Council first approved a conceptual design for the new complex in 2015 and had planned to demolish and rebuild the facilities in 2017. But city leaders said early last year that with unfunded pension liabilities straining the city budget, the project could be postponed for five years.

City Manager Dave Kiff said the city’s commitment since then to paying down the pension liabilities by adding $9 million a year to its payments, coupled with a generally healthy local economy, made him more optimistic about finding money for the fibrary.

“My recommendation a year ago was more just my inability to foresee the future today,” he said. “But I do think steps that the council has taken and the economy holding up quite well and sales tax still holding up quite well were all things that were more uncertain back then.”

Kiff said he wouldn’t tie any one project to developer fees, saying the fees go into a bigger pot of money for long-term projects such as the fire station/library. Councilman Kevin Muldoon added that developer fees can’t be used for unfunded pensions.

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