Local News in Brief : Library Booked for Expansion

A $2.8-million expansion project that will more than double the size of the El Segundo municipal library is scheduled to begin in February.

Council members on Tuesday approved the sale of $1.75 million in “certificates of participation”--which resemble bonds--to finance the project. The certificates will be repaid with money the city earns from its 97-unit senior citizen’s housing complex. An additional $1.1 million to pay for the project will come from federal revenue sharing funds and a state grant.

The project, which library supporters say is needed because the existing library is too small and unsafe, will increase the size of the Mariposa Avenue facility to more than 26,000 square feet--more than twice its present size. A children’s reading room and new offices will be part of the project.