Cheney facility would be moved and rebuilt, Airway Heights expanded
By BECKY THOMAS
Staff Reporter
The Spokane County Library District is asking for public comment on a draft facilities plan that covers the next 20 years.
The draft calls for rebuilding and relocating the Cheney branch, and expanding the Airway Heights branch.
An open house at the Cheney Library, 4-7 p.m. May 4, will offer a summary of the draft plan as well as an avenue for citizens to direct their questions and comments.
“It is informal in that it's not a presentation,” SCLD communications specialist Beth Gillespie said. “This plan is enormous and it's hard to digest it all.”
Gillespie said library district leaders and board members would be in attendance to answer questions.
The plan is several years in the making and covers all 10 branches of the library district. A research group conducted surveys, focus groups and interviews for the plan, concluding in 2008.
According to the draft, responses highlighted the need for more materials like audiobooks and DVDs as well as more computers and quiet space for study. The plan also outlines several construction projects to accommodate a projected 25.4 percent county population increase by 2031.
It calls for a relocation and rebuilding of the Cheney library by 2017, citing the transition “from community library to resource library” as well as population growth that makes the existing facility—built in 1988 and remodeled in 1997—inadequate.
“They just have a larger volume of resource information and Cheney's also the real cornerstone branch of the West Plains,” Gillespie said.
According to the draft plan, “The only realistic alternative is to replace the current facility with a much larger new building on a new site, with the City of Cheney using the vacated building for another community purpose.”
The plan recommends a new building with 15,000 square feet of space, up from the current facility's 6,600 sq. ft. at an estimated total cost of $4.9 million and opening date of 2017. The work would be funded with a voter-approved bond.
Gillespie said a location wouldn't be identified until after a bond was passed to fund the work, but the new site would likely not be located any closer to Spokane.
The plan also recommends a 2,100 sq. ft. addition to the Airway Heights Library and remodel inside the building to double the size of the meeting room. This work would also be completed in 2017.
Library district residents will likely vote on a proposed bond to fund all the facilities projects in 2012. Gillespie said current estimates place the tax rate at less than 15 cents per $1000 in assessed property value, but added, “we don't know what those 2012 numbers will be.”
The May 4 meeting will be the last in a series of open houses at the Spokane Valley, Fairfield and North Spokane libraries. Gillespie said she expected a large turnout in Cheney, since residents are perceived as being more engaged with their library than residents of the larger cities.
The plan is available for public review and comment at http://www.scld.org/lfmp2010.asp. A final draft of the plan will be presented to the library district's board of directors in July with expected adoption in September.
Becky Thomas can be reached at becky@cheneyfreepress.com.
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