LAKEPORT >> The ceiling of the Carnegie Library in Lakeport is beginning to fall into disrepair.
During a meeting of the Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee (LEDAC), Lakeport City Manager Margaret Silveria said the problem began a couple of months ago and the cost to repair the damages is not known at this time.
“Apparently, with the heat turned off in the building, some of the ceiling plaster has been falling,“ LEDAC Chair Wilda Shock said.
A feasibility study, which was compiled by San Francisco-based Garavaglia Architecture, was completed in October and was presented to the Lakeport City Council in January.
The library was built in 1918 as part of the Carnegie Library System, which has a total of 142 public libraries in California. By 1985, the facility had outgrown its original purpose. After closing, the building was used as a satellite laboratory for the University of California in Davis, it was also used for additional city offices. In 2008, the library was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The study addresses associated costs for repairs, compliance issues and potential uses for the facility. However, the repairs to the ceiling are not included in the study, as the problem was not present when at the time of its completion.
“We have asked the consultants to review the ceiling repair and a change in the lighting system to be certain that any changes are consistent with the building’s placement on the National Register of Historic Places,” Shock said.
A workshop to garner public feedback for potential uses for the facility is also tentatively planned after the city removes files it has been storing on the second floor, according to Shock. This would be the second such workshop, with the first being held in June of last year.
“When they accepted the report, the Lakeport City Council suggested another session in which they would be engaged to hear from the public now that the feasibility study is completed and available as a reference,” Shock explained.
The Lakeport City Council was not involved with the first workshop.
Additionally, Silveria has been searching for funding to in order to meet American’s with Disabilites Act (ADA) compliance.
Silveria said she will be discussing the possibility of using Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program income, which are funds repayment of CDBG loans, with the Lakeport City Council at its meeting Tuesday.
“Some of these improvements would be a lift and converting one of the bathrooms for ADA accessibility,” Silveria elaborated.
The original estimate for renovations and improvements provided by Garavaglia Architecture totaled $250,000, in which the ADA improvements is included, but not the ceiling repairs.
Contact J. W. Burch, IV at 900-2022.
