The city has posted announcements of its intention to demolish the Linoaks Motel but more than a month will pass before the wrecking ball arrives.

The last tenants are due to leave the motel at Oak Street and Lincoln Avenue today to make room for Alameda's long-awaited new Main Library. Then, on Jan. 17, the Library Foundation will hold a fund-raising party site.

The demolition contractor's first task, after getting the city's go-ahead about Jan. 20, will be to remove lead paint and asbestos from the 1960s-era, 50-unit motel.

"There won't be any hazard unless materials become airborne," said John Wankum, a city engineer who is managing the library construction project.

Actual demolition of the structures would begin in the week of Feb. 16, he said. It will take three or four weeks to remove materials from the site.

Construction won't start until the summer because the city has to survey the property without the building and get bids for the job.

The city hopes the bids will be more favorable if contractors see an empty site, instead of the motel buildings, Wankum said.

The new Main Library is slated to open in October 2005.

Alameda residents have worked for nearly 40 years, in fits and starts, to get an up-to-date library. The studies, surveys and grant applications finally panned out in 2000, when Island voters approved a $10.6 million bond for local matching funds for a state grant. The state awarded a $15.5 million construction grant to Alameda in 2002.

The city purchased the Linoaks in 1988 in conjunction with an unsuccessful state grant application.

Alameda's Main Library has been housed in an 18,000-square-foot space at Historic Alameda High School since 1998. Alameda Unified School District needs the space and will not renew the lease.