South Pasadena committee signs off on outreach plan, branding direction for library–senior center project

The City of South Pasadena Library and Community Center Comprehensive Site Plan Ad Hoc Committee on March 6 reviewed draft marketing materials and gave staff and consultants direction to finalize a public outreach campaign for the library and senior-center redevelopment.

The committee asked staff to focus the initial outreach on a single, short engagement that drives residents to a website and survey and to adopt a working project name. Dominica Magadichie, Deputy City Manager, described the immediate objective as “this is a 1 engagement piece. What we're really trying to do is get people to know what the, project is, get people to take the survey, and get people to go to the website.”

The committee broadly agreed to brand the initiative as the Library Park Campus (often shortened in discussion to “LPC”), and to let staff refine the flyer, color palette and wording before printing and digital distribution. Members asked for clearer, less wordy copy, stronger calendar cues (dates and days of week), a single QR code that links to the survey, and versions of the materials suitable for printed handouts, counters and mailed utility inserts.

Why it matters: the outreach documents are the first public explanation of a multi-year planning effort that could influence future funding and design decisions for the library, senior center and adjacent park. Committee members said the campaign should be clear about the project’s stage and avoid implying that construction or guaranteed funding is already approved.

Key directions and deadlines - Survey launch: staff and consultants said they plan to publish the online survey “in a couple — actually almost a week from now, the fifteenth.” (meeting date March 6; the committee instructed staff to proceed toward that launch date.) - Events: the committee reviewed two public engagement events now scheduled for April — an April 9 open‑house block (noted in draft as 4–6 p.m.) followed by an interactive community meeting (6:30–8 p.m.), and a Thursday morning meeting on April 10 (10–11:30 a.m.). Members asked staff to expand open‑house hours or duplicate the open‑house format at both morning and evening meetings to reach different schedules. - Branding and naming: committee members endorsed moving from the earlier, more “real estate” style flyer to imagery that shows modern library/senior/community examples and agreed to use “Library Park Campus” in headline language while explaining the current facilities (library and senior center) in the project overview. - Outreach mechanics: create one prominent QR code that leads directly to the survey (with links to additional project material from the survey landing page); provide printed material for counters and mailers; add translation support and a language selector in the online survey per school‑district guidance on top translated languages; and include a short line near demographic questions explaining that optional responses can help the city pursue funding (and that responses are confidential).

Survey content and in‑person boards Consultants from Group 4 described the survey structure and large printed “engagement boards” that will mirror the online questions. The boards and survey will ask about frequency of library and senior‑center use, how respondents travel to the site, program and service preferences (library services, senior/recreation offerings, shared community spaces, and outdoor/park uses), and optional demographic questions (age groups, ethnicity, renter/homeowner status). Dawn Marcus of Group 4 said “the format of the community meeting is interactive,” explaining that meetings will open with a short presentation, rotate participants through stations that match the survey topics, and conclude with a summary.

Targeted outreach and partners Committee members asked staff to coordinate distribution with local partners: library counters, the Chamber of Commerce, PTAs and school district channels, recreation providers, scouts and neighborhood organizations. Staff will pursue a mailer to residential and business utility accounts, place printed material at public counters, and have staff and consultants staff kiosks at two farmers‑market dates. Members suggested offering teacher briefings and presenting to the school board or PTA leaders to attract families and students.

Site visits and technical follow‑up The committee discussed in‑person and virtual site visits to other libraries and combined facilities; staff said they will circulate a proposed list and allow members to vote on which sites to tour. Members and staff emphasized that tours should include both public spaces and back‑of‑house/staff areas, and that the team will invite operators and architects from benchmark sites to discuss operations and lessons learned.

Outstanding clarifications Several specifics remain to be finalized: exact flyer color palette and final imagery, a short memorable web path or page slug the city will publish (staff discussed using a dedicated page on the city domain, e.g., southpasadenaca.gov/lpc), the final project email alias for incoming questions (committee asked for a simple address but did not finalize it), and an approved multilingual translations list (staff reported the school district will advise on top translation needs). Staff will return a revised packet that incorporates the committee’s edits.

Next steps Staff and Group 4 will finalize the flyer and survey content for the committee’s review and move ahead with the survey launch, event publicity and the April 9–10 public events. The committee’s next regular meeting is scheduled for April 3, when staff expects to report progress on launch materials and the outreach calendar.