Opinion: Councilmembers Go, Carroll Propose Great Park Site for Irvine’s Central Library. Is This in the Best Interests of Irvine Residents?

  • June 22, 2025, 8:20 am America/Los_Angeles

At its meeting at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 24, The Great Park Board will consider Agenda Item 1.2, titled “Consideration of a Request by Chairman Carroll and Vice Chairman Go to Discuss a Central Library at the Great Park.” In a curiously worded memorandum to City Manager Oliver Chi, Carroll and Go state: “We respectfully request that the City Council adopt a resolution to formally incorporate and expeditiously build a Central Library into the Northern Sector of the Great Park Framework Plan at the June 24, 2025, Great Park Board Meeting.”

As Carroll and Go acknowledge in their memo, there is already a library planned for the Great Park, at the ARDA site. As stated in the “story map” for the Great Park Framework Plan: “A future library at the Great Park would offer educational and literary experiences for all who visit the park. Nestled amongt parks and gardens, the library would bring a space for educational support, community space, technology access, and cultural enrichment.”

What Carroll and Go are proposing is to redesignate the already-planned library as the Central Library for the entire City of Irvine. This proposal raises questions of whether the Great Park is the best site for such a facility, and whether the Great Park Board has the authority to decide that issue.

Is the Great Park the Best Place for the Central Library?

The term “Central Library” typically means the main library of a municipality, and/or “the administrative headquarters of a public library system, including system-wide services provided from a single location.”  In Southern California, perhaps the most familiar example of a central library is the Richard J. Riordan Central Library at 630 West 5th Street in Downtown Los Angeles. That grand historic edifice not only serves as the headquarters for the Los Angeles Library system, but houses nearly three million books, three million photographs, and a variety of special collections.

One of the noteworthy attributes of the Riordan Library is that it is indeed geographically central. Located just west of Pershing Square, it is within an easy walk of two subway stations, making it easily accessible not only to nearby residents, but also to those of many of the far-flung neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Within Orange County, Santa Ana’s main library is in the downtown Civic Center adjacent to City Hall.  Similarly, the main Orange Public Library and History Center is centrally located on Chapman Avenue, across the street from City Hall. Anaheim’s central library is also centrally located at the intersection of West Broadway and South Harbor Boulevard.

In stark contrast to the above examples, a Central Library at the Great Park would be far from the center of Irvine—indeed the site was not even within the Irvine City Limits prior to the Marine base closure. The ARDA site is about seven miles from City Hall, and even further from many Irvine residents. But more problematic than the sheer distance is the lack of public transit. For all intents and purposes, those Irvine residents who are unable drive would be unable to use the Central Library.

Heritage Park Library may be a better, existing alternative. Situated near the intersection of Walnut and Yale, Heritage could not be much more centrally located. It is conveniently close to many of Irvine’s mature villages, and—critically—is on the Irvine Connect route so it’s readily accessible by free public transit. At 21,000 square feet, Heritage is by far its largest of Irvine’s existing three libraries. Critically, the City is already planning extensive renovations and upgrades to Heritage Community Park, and upgrading the library to serve as our Central Library could certainly by an important component of the plan.

University Park is another possible site for the Central Library. The current library facility there is owned by the County of Orange.  While the City will be able to lease the facility for the short term, it will have to find a new library site and either build a new facility or renovate an existing one. The facility could be designed to serve as the Central Library. While perhaps less transit accessible than Heritage, University Park would nonetheless be a central location far more convenient to most residents than the Great Park.

According to the Voice of OC, “Irvine Heritage Park, Tustin Public Library and Garden Grove Main Library were OCPL’s top three most popular branches in 2023. That year, Irvine Heritage Park welcomed about 320,700 visitors” and “the next three most popular OCPL branches in 2023 included Irvine University with 174,179 visitors.” The below chart is from the Voice of OC.

Whose Decision is This?

Separate and apart from the question of where the Central Library should be located is the issue of who decides that question. As noted above, Carroll and Go oddly requested that the City Council adopt a resolution at Tuesday’s meeting of the Great Park Board. While both bodies are composed of the same personnel, they are separate and distinct legal entities and can only act on properly agendized matters at their own respective meetings. So whose call is this? The governing legal documents indicate that the location of the Central Library is ultimately a matter for the City Council to decide at the conclusion of a transparent process.

Article 4, section 404 of the City Charter provides that: “All powers of the City shall be vested in the Council except as otherwise provided in this Charter.” Title 3, section 3-2-104 of the Municipal Code defines the powers and duties of the Director of Community Services to include “ planning and organizing the development of long-range library building programs ….” Section 3-3-104 provides that it is the duty of the Community Services Commission to: “Act in an advisory capacity to the City Council in all matters pertaining to the acquisition, capital improvement, rehabilitation and maintenance of park, recreational, cultural, human services, library, youth and other related facilities.” (Emphasis added.)

It may come as a surprise to many residents that the Great Park is under the control of a nonprofit public benefit corporation called the Great Park Corporation. The corporation is run by a Board of Directors, which currently consists of the seven members of the Irvine City Council. According to Article III, section 1 of the corporate bylaws:

“The specific and primary purpose of this corporation is to plan, design, develop, and operate property and improvements located in the City of Irvine and within the boundaries of the former United States Marine Corp Air Station El Toro, for public park, recreation, exposition and open space purposes as the ‘Great Park’ project for the benefit of the residents of the City of Irvine, residents of Orange County, and others.”

The powers of the Board are set forth in Article VII, section 1, which provides in part, “the business and affairs of this corporation shall be managed, and all corporate powers shall be exercised, by or under the direction of the board of directors ….”

In short, the Great Park Board’s authority is limited to running the Great Park. It has no jurisdiction over the citywide library system. The action requested by Carroll and Go would seem to be a usurpation of powers legally vested in the elected City Council, the Community Services Commission, and the Department of Community Services (including the Director of Community Services and the City Librarian). Staff is in the process of taking over library services from the County, and has identified the next steps in the process:

  • Recruit library staff
  • Begin to improve the buildings
  • Begin to enhance the collections
  • Begin to plan and prepare library programs
  • Explore options for additional facilities in the City of Irvine

Staff must be allowed to complete an orderly and transparent planning process with robust public input. That process should include the identification of the best location for the Central Library, and the Community Services Commission should review that determination and make recommendations to the City Council. The Great Park Board should not attempt to short-circuit that process through an action beyond its jurisdiction.

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