Murrieta library foundation and city push to close funding gap for $7.05 million children’s expansion
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Summary
Library Foundation and city staff say a $7,050,000 plan to expand the children’s area at Murrieta Public Library is ready for final design and bidding but needs private donations to close a gap before council can award a construction contract.
Murrieta — The Murrieta Public Library Foundation and city staff told the Library Advisory Commission on Feb. 10 that a long-planned expansion of the library’s children’s area is at final design and nearing bid documents but still requires private donations to meet the project budget.
The library’s senior program manager, Brian Crawford, said the project budget is about $7,050,000, including soft costs, and that construction alone is estimated at a little over $4,000,000. Crawford said the project currently includes a $1.5 million-plus California State Library grant together with roughly $750,000 in city matching funds, and that the foundation’s fundraising will determine how the final contract is structured when it goes to bid and then to City Council.
Crawford told commissioners the commission and community helped shape the plan and that council selected a roughly 4,500-square-foot expansion option: “Council did select the 4,500 square foot version and we settled into a budget of just over $7,000,000,” Crawford said. He described project elements that remain in the scope: multipurpose rooms that can divide into two program spaces, expanded children’s stacks, staff offices and outdoor programmable garden areas, and said staff expect to be in plan check with building and safety and to go out to bid in May with a Council contract request in July.
Kevin (surname not provided), identified as president of the Murrieta Public Library Foundation, told the commission the foundation has launched a community campaign and a GoFundMe to reach small donors quickly and to amplify outreach to larger donors: “We are short of those goals, sadly, but we’re doing everything we can to kind of get the word out and get people committed to supporting this once-in-a-generation project,” Kevin said. He asked commissioners to help raise awareness and offered yard signs and printed materials for outreach.
City staff described next steps and financial risks. Crawford said final contract costs will not be known until formal bids are opened and that tariffs, supply-chain changes and market moves could affect pricing: “We are really not going to know what the cost of this project is going to be until we go out to bid and we open those bids,” he said. To manage risk, city staff plan to include alternate bid items (add/alt and deduct items) so the project can be adjusted if primary bids exceed estimates.
Foundation and staff described a near-term timeline for reporting private fundraising to City Council: Kevin said foundation leaders expect to present a private-funding update to the council “the second meeting in March” (date not specified) so the council can decide how to address any remaining gap and whether to proceed to construction procurement. Kevin and Crawford said the foundation will continue to accept donations beyond that date but needs a clear fundraising commitment to finalize schedules.
Crawford and the foundation outlined naming opportunities and donor levels; Crawford said the design and furnishings plan includes age-appropriate lower stacks, multipurpose rooms with sinks and storage, parent-and-child study carrels, new offices, and outdoor reading nooks and gardening areas. The design firm is SVA Architects and RWBID is supporting construction management and cost estimating.
Commissioners suggested outreach strategies including school PTA campaigns, preschool and homeschool outreach, co-branding at city events and video-based social outreach. Kevin and staff encouraged commissioners to connect the foundation with their networks; Kevin provided a contact email for the foundation (info@murrietapubliclibraryfoundation.org) and asked commissioners to pass ideas and donor leads to staff.
Why it matters: the city and the foundation describe the project as the last major expansion opportunity for the existing library building and say the new space would add multipurpose programming rooms and more children’s stacks to serve Murrieta families for decades.
Contact and next steps: staff said they hope to complete plan-check comments this month, go out to bid in May, seek Council approval of a construction contract in July and begin construction later in the year; Kevin also reiterated the foundation’s ongoing fundraising effort and naming opportunities.
