City outlines needs-assessment for South Pasadena library, senior and community campus

Kathy Billings, director of the South Pasadena Public Library, told the Public Art Commission on March 31 that the city has launched a needs-assessment phase for a project to reimagine the library park campus and explore options for a renovated or new facility to serve library, senior and community services.

The site-plan phase will document space needs — not produce architectural designs — and assess technical constraints such as site slope, utilities and historic features, Billings said. She described the work as the first step that will allow the city to seek potential funding by showing funders a documented vision and programmatic needs.

The project is being led by an ad hoc committee established by the City Council and a Bay Area architectural consultant experienced with libraries and civic buildings. Billings said the consultant will produce graphic site plans that capture space needs and layout options but “you’re not gonna see… what the building would look like.”

Why it matters: the city’s library and senior center buildings that face Oakley Street are about 43 years old and, Billings said, “are in somewhat poor condition” and have not kept up with community needs identified in prior planning. The city intends the new work to prioritize intergenerational use, shared spaces (lobbies, restrooms, kitchens, meeting rooms), accessibility and preservation of the site’s cultural-heritage resources.

Billings described outreach planned for the next two months: an online survey open through May, a consultant-led open house and evening workshop on April 9, a morning workshop on April 10, pop-up kiosks at the farmers market and other events, and a second round of engagement in summer when the consultant returns with possible site concepts. She said the site-plan timeline aims to deliver a site plan to the City Council around October 2025.

Commissioners asked about which community groups have been contacted and how the project will coordinate with local organizations. Billings said ad hoc committee members are serving as ambassadors and have already reached groups including the South Pasadena Education Foundation (SPEF), SPARC, the schools and the Friends of the Library; she also said she had spoken with Laurie at the Chamber of Commerce to coordinate outreach.

Commissioners also raised arts-related questions, noting existing library artworks (a fused-glass triptych and stained glass). Billings said the engagement survey will ask whether people want performance space, gallery or art-making space, and confirmed the city will account for deinstallation and reinstallation of existing collection items if a new building is built.

The presentation included historic preservation work: Billings said the community room that faces El Centro is listed as a cultural-heritage landmark and that a historic-preservation consultant is researching the building’s evolution (she clarified the building’s Carnegie-era association: “the Carnegie portion of the building was demolished in 1982… the historic piece is actually constructed in 1930,” she said).

Next steps and outreach: Billings asked commissioners to take the survey and noted the consultant’s open-house/workshop schedule and a visible kiosk to collect feedback around town. She said the second round of engagement in summer will test whether concept options reflect community responses.

Commissioners and staff said they will coordinate arts-commission input about how artworks and performance spaces might be integrated into the site plan.

Ending: The commission received the presentation and asked staff to circulate the online-survey link to commissioners. The project remains in the needs-assessment phase; no design decisions or funding commitments were made at the March 31 meeting.