Dp Hospital Administrators Offer Land To Library District For Proposed Building

Administrators at Deer Park Health Center and Hospital want to donate property to the Spokane County Library District for construction of the town’s proposed $1.14 million library.

“We’re very pleased with the proposal we have submitted to our governing board,” said hospital director Cathy Simchuk.

The land is a one-acre plot adjacent to the hospital, which is run by the Sisters of Providence. The sisters and their Dominican Network also operate Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Simchuk said the proposal will be submitted to the network this month. She would not reveal specific details about the hospital’s proposal.

Mike Wirt, Spokane County library director, said he’s excited about the proposal.

“I got a phone call from Cathy … out of the blue asking me if we’d be interested in putting the library at that site,” Wirt said.

“This is great. It could be the difference between owning and leasing a building.”

Before the offer, the library board was probably going to have to rent property from the city, Wirt said.

Deer Park city and library officials had been looking at a vacant strip of land just west of City Hall and the fire station as a home for the new library, he said.

“That piece of property is narrow, long and more rectangular in shape,” Wirt said. “Future expansion would be a little more difficult.”

The Deer Park City Council also had safety concerns about building the library so close to the fire station, he said.

The one-acre parcel near the hospital would allow the library to expand to 10,000 square feet instead of the 9,000 proposed at the City Hall site.

The land is just three blocks from Deer Park junior and senior high schools and Arcadia Elementary, Wirt said.

“That’s another attraction. We will be able to provide service for them, and they won’t have to go very far,” he said.

Deer Park’s current library is in the basement of City Hall and has just 4,000 square feet.

Library officials hope to have a building design complete by September. The library is scheduled to open sometime in 1998, Wirt said.

, DataTimes