Library will be put to voters
Ballots will hit Liberty Lake residents’ mailboxes this week as voters weigh a $9.8 million bond proposal to build a combination library/community center on 6.4 acres at Mission Avenue and Signal Road.
The proposed library has been much discussed, but people tend to forget the measure also includes a 6,300-square-foot community center and a 3,500-square-foot multipurpose room, said Mayor Wendy Van Orman. “We don’t really have anything for a gathering place in Liberty Lake,” she said.
The 20-year bond would cost 57 cents per $1,000 in assessed home value, translating to about $114 per year for the owner of a home valued at $200,000. The population of Liberty Lake is expected to keep growing, which would have the effect of lowering the price over time. “This 57 cents per $1,000 will be going down as more people come in,” Van Orman said.
The proposed library would encompass 10,700 square feet, plus an 11,200-square-foot daylight basement that would be used for storage and future expansion. The library and community center wings would share a 3,000-square-foot commons area.
An effort has been made to keep the costs down, said Van Orman. The original plans called for a second story with 7,000 square feet and a smaller basement. Planners realized, however, that creating a basement was about $100 per square foot cheaper than adding a second story, so the second story was scrapped in favor of a bigger basement. “We wanted to keep it as cost-effective as possible,” Van Orman said. “We just knew we wanted to keep it below $10 million.”
New library space is painfully needed, said Pamela Mogen, director of library services. There is no meeting space or adequate space for programs such as story time. “There’s a story area, but we’re outgrowing that,” she said, noting that 20 kids plus parents and strollers take up a lot of room. “It’s pretty crowded in there.”
Shelves are overflowing, requiring that some books be stored in the basement. They are available to be checked out, but patrons can’t browse there and have to request a book specifically. “We don’t have any more room on the shelves,” Mogen said. “When new books come in, we have to make a decision about what comes off.”
The library has four computers and lacks the space to add more. There are no offices for staff, forcing them to place cubicles out in the open. “We’re basically right out in the public,” she said. There isn’t a break room, which means that employees eat their lunches at the single table in the room or out in their cars.
The library started with donated books in January 2004 in a single storefront at 1421 N Meadowwood Lane after the city canceled a contract with the Spokane County Library District that had been in effect since the city incorporated. About 30 people a day came in the doors the first year, Mogen said. “By the end of the year we probably had 1,200 cards,” she said. “The numbers now are more like 150 people a day. We have about 3,800 cards that have been issued.”
In December 2006 the library split off the children’s library and expanded into another storefront, which is separated from the main library by an insurance office. Even with that expansion, space is still at a premium. “The Young Adult area is just a corner,” she said. “It severely limits the program options of the library.”
Liberty Lake resident Doug Pullen said he has a problem with the city spending nearly $10 million on such a building when there are better things to spend money on. “I think the city has street issues, it has sidewalk issues, what I would call capital improvement things it needs to look at,” he said.
He’s also in favor of the city joining the Spokane County Library District. “Why does everyone need to have their own library areas if there’s a way to put it in the county plan?” he said. “That makes a whole lot more sense to me.”
The decision not to be a part of the library district was made when the city was formed, Van Orman said. “I don’t honestly think it would be in the community’s best interest to do that,” she said. “We wanted to make sure it (the library) was located near our residents. The community came together for this library.”
Pullen said he’s also heard that some tennis courts are going to be paid for with the bond. That isn’t true, said Van Orman. New tennis courts are called for as part of Phase II of Rocky Hill Park, which will be located at Mission and Winrock. That project will be paid for separately.
The library/community center will have a parklike area outside the front door, but that will be paid for with $500,000 already set aside in the city’s budget, Van Orman said. The area will include parking, an amphitheater, space for a farmers’ market and restrooms. The project will go out to bid soon and will be built this summer if the bids come in under budget, Van Orman said.
The city has been working on the proposed library/community center project for nearly two years, Van Orman said. “If this doesn’t pass, we really don’t have a plan B,” she said. “If the community wants to invest in where they live, this is the way to do it.”
Mogen is eager for the extra space that would come with the new building. “We can’t grow, we can’t be the place they want us to be unless we have the space,” she said. “Yeah, we’re small, but this bond is hopefully an answer to that issue.”