Portola Valley library to shut doors in June Portola Valley library to shut doors in June (April 20, 2005)

By David Boyce

Almanac Staff Writer

It's official. On June 1, the 50-year-old former school building that houses the library at Portola Valley Town Center will close.

Acting on the negative findings in an independent engineering report on the earthquake vulnerability of the library building, Victoria L. Johnson, the director of the county library system, announced the closing at the Town Council meeting of Wednesday, April 13.

"It's quite clear to me that the building is not safe for long term use," said Ms. Johnson at the meeting. A portion of the library sits directly over a trace of the San Andreas fault.

"The last thing that a librarian wants to do is shut the doors of a library," she added. Most of the employees agreed to work until June 1, she said.

The town will continue to offer library services, but which services has yet to be determined. Councilman Steve Toben will convene a public meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, in the Historic Schoolhouse to assemble a library task force and come up with a plan.

In an April 11 letter, Ms. Johnson proposed several alternatives, including extending hours at Woodside library, providing a computer at Town Hall to allow free book reservations, and visits by the bookmobile.

Functions such as children's story time and family film night could be moved to the Historic Schoolhouse, she noted.
Crisis in the making

The Town Center is crossed by two fault traces. Recent geological engineering reports commissioned by the town have shown that five of the six major buildings in the complex are vulnerable to severe damage or collapse in a major quake.

The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) -- from which Portola Valley obtains its liability insurance -- has implied that the town's coverage could be canceled if the town doesn't act in good faith to protect staff and visitors.

Plans are well under way for a new complex on ground considered safe. There is opposition from a group of residents whose complaints center on the estimated $15 million price tag. The group -- called the Portola Valley Committee for a Safe Town Center -- wants the buildings retrofitted and the master plan put to a town-wide vote.

In a March 7 letter to one resident, Mayor Ed Davis said a vote was not required because of the risk of collapse, loss of insurance, and state law prohibitions on retrofitting seismically threatened buildings if the cost exceeds half their worth. With an appraiser recently estimating their value at zero, a legal retrofit is not possible.

If plans proceed on schedule, a new library and Town Hall may be ready for occupancy in September 2007.

The town staff moved to a temporary building in mid-2004.

In January, Councilman George Comstock proposed a similar move for the library, but the council rejected the idea, citing the high cost, the low earthquake risk and cheaper alternatives such as putting anti-shatter film on windows and finding other venues for popular programs.

Those precautionary measures led the library staff to put two and two together and bring up the topic of its own safety, said Mike Eppley, a senior assistant librarian at Portola Valley.
Reaction

At the April 13 council meeting, resident Sally Ann Reiss said she was relaying the feelings of some 50 other residents who had called her.

"People are very angry that a service that people rely on is going to be shut down," she said. "I'm really sad that we're losing one of our most important community meeting spaces."

The shut-down at the start of summer struck resident Caroline Krauskopf particularly hard. "I would just really strongly ask you all what the message is you're sending to mothers," she said. "Please think about the timing. This is the worst possible timing for this."

"If we had our druthers, ... we would not be closing the library," said Mayor Ed Davis. "We have lost the use of the current facility."

"We were committed to keeping the various functions of the Town Center until we opened the doors of the new facility in 2007," said Mr. Toben.

He noted the plan to move children's story time to the room they were meeting in. Kids don't care about the venue, he said. "We care about the roof over their heads. That's why we're obligated to do something like this."

Mr. Eppley said he had expected a standing-room-only crowd and was initially surprised to find plenty of seats. The audience grew to about 20, including several people from Friends of the Library. The room seats about 100.

"It was heartening to hear that the library was so important to people," said Mr. Eppley in an interview. "I wished that it didn't have to happen. It really makes me want to see us come up with some good alternatives."

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