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Library at Mark Watson seems perfect solution
With last week’s purchase agreement that will add 2 acres to the river access park at East LaPorte, county leaders have cleared a path that could lead to a new public library on the site of the old Sylva High School at Mark Watson Park.
We think that’s a great plan, and we’re for it 100 percent.
Speaker after speaker at a May 2003 public hearing said how important it is to keep the library close to downtown. Sylva’s the county seat, they said, and a county’s main public library belongs in its center of government. The value of a library in attracting people downtown was also mentioned. Several speakers indicated they feared removing the library from Sylva would jeopardize Main Street revitalization efforts. Officials from Sylva’s town board, the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and Sylva Partners in Renewal all spoke against moving the public library from Sylva to Southwestern Community College. And some protested trying to fuse the very different missions of public and college libraries into one shared facility.
We agreed with all those points in an editorial we wrote a year ago.
And we’re pleased now to agree with the solution Commissioners’ Chairman Stacy Buchanan offered six weeks ago. A library that looks like the former school, located where the school once stood, would make an attractive bridge from Sylva’s past into its present. A new library at that location would enhance Sylva’s entrance as well.
Mark Watson Park is just a few hundred yards from the current library. Sidewalk improvements would be needed to make it safe and convenient for walkers, but a connecting walkway could easily be incorporated into the design process. A set of steps already connects the park to the old Courthouse for those who prefer the scenic route.
Teaming a library with the ballfields and playground now located on the site where generations of Sylva children were educated sounds like the perfect solution to the controversy that was raging this time last year.
In our view, locating a library adjacent to the central business district would provide all the benefits of a downtown library without tying up retail space. A library would broaden the appeal of Mark Watson, the park where most of the sports programs for young children are centered. Older siblings could work on homework while the T-ball set competes.
Did someone say “win-win?”
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