Updates

Larkspur officials are moving closer to a state grant application for a new library even as key project details remain unresolved. The City Council received an update on the project Wednesday. City Manager Dan Schwarz said the state library infrastructure fund has $439 million to distribute in matching grants for city library projects.

Larkspur officials have agreed to explore options to build a new civic campus on a municipal lot — including a library and city offices — and they’ll seek help from a state grant. The city recently received a $1 million injection from the state to help build a new library, a project that has been planned for more than five years. It also garnered the support of the Commons Foundation, a nonprofit that pledged to raise $5 million over three years to fund the project.

Larkspur could spend $10 million on remodeling its historic City Hall — or move it. Renovation is needed at 400 Magnolia Ave. after recent assessments indicated that parts of the building were nearing an end, Public Works Director Julian Skinner told the City Council Wednesday. Many repair and maintenance tasks have been complicated by issues with the building — which is deficient in accessibility, seismic structure, electrical and heating ventilation and air-conditioning infrastructure. The building also is plagued by a lack of adequate fire sprinklers, mechanical, electrical and alarm systems issues and an elevator that is out of date and unreliable.

The plan to build a new library in Larkspur has received a $1 million injection from the state. The library was among a handful of North Bay projects that were allocated a portion of the $264 billion state budget, Assemblyman Marc Levine announced. “Libraries are one of the most essential functions in our communities,” said Levine, a Democrat who lives in Greenbrae. “They serve both as a learning and job resources center, as well as living rooms for so many people in our communities.”

“What was more embarrassing than an empty lot where a new library is supposed to be?" A peeling, faded, several-years-old sign heralding the project. The “Future Home of the Larkspur Library and Community Center” sign was erected a few years after the Doherty Drive lot was set aside by the Rose Lane housing development in 2010. It announced 2015 planning meetings and presided over the 2.5-acre site for years as a symbol of the stalled project until being quietly removed more than a year ago.

The Commons at Larkspur was the focus of a front page article by the Marin IJ of the Redwood High School Architecture class’s designs for a new Larkspur Library Community Center. We want to applaud the students on their designs and creativity.

Larkspur resident Joe Jennings has stepped up to do what nobody has been able to do despite 50 years of trying: build a new city library. Jennings says he envisioned the project’s potential when walking St. Francis Way, from Assisi to Rome, with his wife Marisa. Along the ancient route, every town he entered had a piazza where the old, young and in-between gathered.

Task force kicks off library fundraising A citizen-led task force has been formed to raise money for a new library and community center in Larkspur. The Commons at Larkspur is a proposed project on 2.4 acres of city-owned land on Rose Lane. “It is a very exciting opportunity for our community to create a new gathering place for people, programs and resources to enrich our citizens and grow the sense of Larkspur Village,” Mayor Ann Morrison said in a statement.