New Valley library is up to voters

University High School students Corey Bowerson and Anthony Veilleux liked what they saw Tuesday at an open house meeting on a proposal to build a bigger, better Spokane Valley Library.

“Whoa, that’s close to where I live,” Veilleux said of the new 58,600-square-foot library at what is now the University City shopping center.

The new library would have more than twice as much space as the existing library at 12004 E. Main Ave., where Tuesday’s meeting was conducted in a basement meeting room.

The proposed $24.9 million structure also would add more than 30 computers as well as an auditorium, more room for children and youth reading areas, more parking and 52,000 additional books, discs, audio books and other materials.

“It’s going to be amazing,” Bowerson said.

He said he had some computer time reserved at the library when he and Veilleux decided to check out the informational meeting.

“I just wanted to see what it’s all about,” Bowerson said, describing himself as a “constant customer” of the library.

He and Veilleux were among 31 people who attended the meeting, which was the last of three in which Spokane County Library District officials provided information about two March 11 ballot measures.

The proposals would improve library service in Spokane Valley, Millwood and surrounding unincorporated areas in a two-step process.

First, more than half of the affected voters would have to agree to create the proposed Greater Spokane Valley Library Capital Facility Area. Then at least 60 percent of them would have to approve a $33.4 million bond measure.

In addition to a new Spokane Valley branch, the bond measure would provide a 2,000-square-foot expansion of the Argonne branch at 4322 N. Argonne Road and a new, 15,000-square-foot library on Conklin Road, just south of Sprague Avenue.

Library district spokeswoman Beth Gillespie said the top three questions Tuesday, in no particular order, were:

“Why do we have to vote for two issues?

“Where exactly will the new Spokane Valley library be?

“What’s the cost to me?

Answers: State law requires the two-part vote, the new Spokane Valley Library will be near the intersection of Sprague Avenue and University Road, and taxpayers will owe about 0.00025 times their assessed property values every year for 20 years.

The estimated cost of the 20-year bond measure is 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. That’s about $50 a year for the owner of a $200,000 home.