|
Potential library sites narrowed to six; space-needs study in
By Carey King
It’s down to six potential sites for a new library in downtown Sylva.
County and town Library Task Force members compiled a list last Thursday (May 20) of properties either county-owned or currently up for sale that could be the new library’s home.
In addition to sites already discussed in past months – including the old Sylva School area at Mark Watson Park, Courthouse hill, the current Main Street library site, a lot on Railroad Avenue owned by Sylva Herald Publisher Jim Gray, and property on Grindstaff Cove near the Jackson Plaza shopping center – Sylva Mayor Brenda Oliver introduced a new contender. Approximately 3.5 acres near Bicentennial Park is up for sale by members of the Mack Hooper family, she said.
After naming the six spots, task force members immediately took a tour of the properties and decided to narrow their options at a meeting this week, when they plan to vote on two or three sites for architect Odell Thompson to evaluate. He will assess each property for its building feasibility, members said.
The decisions come on the heels of a space-needs study update delivered to the task force in mid-May by library consultant and Rowan County Public Library director Phil Barton. Barton first completed a needs study for the library in 1999; the task force decided in February to ask Barton to revisit his recommendations in light of recent county growth.
Five years ago, projecting for 20 years of use, Barton found the library would need 18,500 square feet of space. He’s now upped the number to between 25,000 and 30,000 square feet.
The increase is based on a population growth rate that exceeded past expectations. The 1999 study estimated that Jackson County had grown 11.3 percent since 1990, but according to the 2000 census, the county actually grew nearly 23 percent. The needs update estimates an additional 16 percent growth by 2010, with the population expected to exceed 43,000 residents by 2020.
In addition to expanding square-footage needs, Barton also added to 1999 numbers concerning patron seating, meeting rooms, computers, staff office space, material collections and shelving.
Calling the Main Street library’s current 28 seats “woefully inadequate,” Barton said the new library will need between 110-130 seats, plus meeting space to accommodate 100 people. He recommended 24 computer workstations to host computer training classes and office space for between 16-18 staff members.
In the 1999 report, Barton said that the only thing that kept library materials from being stacked on the floor was the fact that a large number of those items were checked out. He suggested the library add 600 linear feet of shelving. Since then, the space situation has remained the same, Barton noted in his update, forcing the library to adopt a zero growth rate for its collection, as an item must be taken off the shelves for a new one to replace it.
The library needs to add 24,490 items to its collection to meet the North Carolina average of 1.9 items per capita, Barton said. Currently, Jackson County’s average is 1.22 materials per person.
Area librarians present at the task force meeting agreed with Barton’s suggestions, especially taking to heart his recommendation that the building be built on one level.
“Every librarian goes into a new building project hoping it’ll be one-story,” Fontana Regional Library director Gail Findlay said. Buildings with more floors require more workers to staff them, meaning the operating costs are pushed higher to pay additional salaries, Findlay said.
The task force’s ability to incorporate each of Barton’s points into the final project is yet to be seen, however, as specifics about most of the six sites remain unknown.
The one exception is Mark Watson Park, the property the task force has discussed in most detail. Already county-owned, the area has necessary water, sewer and power lines, County Commissioners’ Chairman Stacy Buchanan told the group. In past weeks, Buchanan has spoken several times about the property’s possibilities and had county workers mark the site with staking flags in order to visualize the placement of the potential building.
Were the old Sylva School site – the corner of the park nearest the Rescue Squad building – to be chosen, the library would have to be at least two stories to create 20,000 square feet of space. Adding an additional one-story wing in the park’s current parking lot could bring the building to the recommended 30,000 square feet, Buchanan said.
To convert the land to library use, the county would have to find other property of similar value to devote to recreational purposes, since Mark Watson was built with dollars from the Recreation Trust Fund. The fund stipulates that a certain amount of county land be reserved for sports and exercise, Buchanan said.
That hurdle has already been met, since the county has a contract to purchase a tract adjacent to the East LaPorte river access park, Buchanan said.
It would also be necessary to create a safe walking path from downtown Sylva to the park, Buchanan said. He suggested removing the portion of Savannah Drive that ascends from Main Street to the back of the Courthouse, then widening Sylva’s entrance and building a wide walkway along West Main Street.
Another issue the task force will have to consider is a request from the county’s Courthouse Restoration Committee to remove the Courthouse property from its site list. The committee hopes to convert the building to a museum, and the Jackson County Genealogical Society may use the old jail for its collections, Buchanan said.
Jackson County librarian Michael Cartwright said he’s glad to see the task force begin to take action. Nearly half of Jackson County residents are only functionally literate, he said, meaning they can only read well enough to find simple information.
He cited data from the North Carolina Literacy Resource Center.
“Forty-five percent of people above the age of 18 cannot function at an adequate reading level,” Cartwright told the task force. “With a proper library facility, we can do something about that.”
|
