Laguna Hills Ca Public Facilities

The Laguna Hills Community Center and Sports Complex is now the official name of the $22-million project that's under construction, the City Council decided Tuesday. The council also approved the natural history theme for the community center's lobby. On display will be the fossilized 10-foot-long whale skull discovered at the Laguna Hills High School track more than a decade ago. Information: (949) 707-2600.

The contractor hired by the city to construct the community recreation center building on Alicia Parkway has backed out of the project, city officials announced. Vahdani Construction Inc., which began building the 42,000-square-foot center last October, told the city last week that because of unspecified financial issues the company could not complete the $4.47-million project. The building is about 45% complete.

The City Council gave the county some advice this week: Get out of the library business. City officials are advocating that the county dissolve its library system and allow communities to spend special library taxes as they see fit. The council is considering a resolution that would support such action and outline the city's library goals. That would allow Laguna Hills, the only Orange County city without its own library branch, the flexibility to meet community needs, officials said.

Designs for a $22-million community center could be approved by the City Council tonight. Council approval of the center's schematic drawings would be the next big step toward construction, with groundbreaking expected in July. Planned for 18 acres at Alicia Parkway and Paseo de Valencia, the center would include a sports field complex, gymnasium, library and meeting rooms. City staff members are looking for a consultant to help decide how to finance the project.

About $7.7 million will be spent to spruce up the city under a two-year budget approved by the City Council this week. The capital improvement fund will pay for neighborhood park development, improved recreation programs and a community center for the 4-year-old city. "The county left us pretty bare" of public facilities, Councilwoman Cindy Greengold said. "And that's why we became incorporated. . . . Now we're bearing the fruits of being independent." About $1.

Two of the three appointees to the new Parks and Recreation Commission have said in recent interviews they will focus their efforts on developing a community and recreation center that could help unite residents in this young city. "My main goal is to see--eventually because this isn't going to happen overnight--a community center built," said Stephanie Mann, 54, who was chosen to serve her first term on any city commission.

The city is looking for up to 45 residents to voice their opinions about what library services they want in Laguna Hills. The residents would form three focus groups to discuss whether they are satisfied with current library services and what improvements they would like. Hearing residents' opinions is one part of a $24,000 library study being conducted by David M. Griffith & Associates for the city.

The young city, without a library within its borders, will spend $24,000 on a study to determine whether it should build its own system or continue to pay for access to an Orange County branch. The city has been paying $538,000 annually so its residents can use a branch of the Orange County Public Library District in nearby Mission Viejo. But the county, strapped for cash, is turning over that branch to Mission Viejo and delaying a planned county branch in neighboring Aliso Viejo until 1998.

With no library of its own, the future of a neighboring city's library in question and the county proposing a new library tax, the city is considering hiring a consultant to study its options. The City Council tonight will take up the matter. The study could cost from $5,000 to $20,000. The study is needed so city officials can decide how to respond to recent library proposals by Mission Viejo and the county, said City Manager Bruce Channing.