Location is everything

Library board looks to move Kalispell branch

By KRISTI ALBERTSON- The Daily Inter Lake

At its regular meeting Thursday afternoon, the Flathead County Library Board asked the City of Kalispell to give the main library branch more than just verbal support.

The board invited City Manager Jim Patrick to the meeting and asked him how the city might be able to financially support the library, particularly as it considers relocating its main branch. The board is considering two possible locations: the old Tidyman's building at 55 First Ave. E.N. and land donated by Flathead Valley Community College.

While the library officially belongs to the county, it's not uncommon for cities to provide buildings or pay for maintenance or utilities in their library branches, Chairman Dave Hilde said.

In Columbia Falls and Bigfork, the libraries share space in public buildings. In Whitefish, community members raised $900,000 and the city donated $100,000 to build a library building.

In Kalispell, the library has leased space from School District 5 since 1969.

"Kalispell really hasn't offered anything," Hilde said. "It would be nice to see the city of Kalispell step up and incur … some of the future costs."

The city could not contribute money to an actual building or remodeling project, and most of the city's means of support are available only to private businesses, Patrick said. There are, however, some ways Kalispell might be able to support the library.

If the board opted to keep the branch downtown, the city could look into instituting a tax increment financing district in the neighborhood around the Tidyman's building, Patrick said.

The city supports keeping the library downtown, he added.

"It's central to the city," he said. "You can walk here. It would be our hope that the library could remain downtown."

Some money might be available to assist with infrastructure, landscaping and the parking lot. Limited funds - probably less than $100,000 - might exist from an old economic development grant.

That time is "too far in the future" however, so Patrick was unable to give the board a definite answer about the city's ability to support the library. The matter hasn't yet come before the city council, and the board hasn't decided where to move the branch.

A developer who has made an offer on the Tidyman's property would like the library to be part of his project there, Hilde said.

He and Crowley spoke to the developer before the meeting. If the trio of Spokane partners who own the property accept the offer, the developer has 60 days to back out. If, during that time, the library board decided not to relocate to the Tidyman's property, the developer still has time move on to a new project or call off the deal.

If he backs out, he will lose $200,000 to $300,000 earnest money - a risk he's willing to take, Hilde said.

The board did not vote Thursday to relocate to the Tidyman's property. Trustees did, however, ask to see the developer's proposal in writing. They will review the proposal within two weeks.

Right now, the library's main facility occupies 23,250 square feet of the three-story, 29,250-square-foot former U.S. Post Office building in downtown Kalispell. The Kalispell library has only five parking spaces, including two reserved for handicapped drivers.

The Kalispell school district owns the 92-year-old building and leases most of it to the Kalispell library system.

The library board believes a 55,000-square-foot building with more meeting spaces, more room for books and a significant amount of parking is needed.

The library would have the space it needs at Tidyman's or at the community college.

According to a feasibility study performed by CTA Architects, the preliminary projected cost of modifying the Tidyman's site is $17.6 million. The preliminary projected cost of building a new facility at the community college is $18.2 million.

Tidyman's already paid impact fees for water, sewer, storm drains, police and fire, so unless the library has more impact on Kalispell's infrastructure than the supermarket did, those fees are paid already, Patrick said. If the library built a new facility at the community college, it likely would have to pay impact fees.

County residents disagree on where the library should relocate. Jerry Hanson, the board's member-at-large, said he has heard from several library patrons from outlying areas that they would prefer the library move to the community college.

The only comments the library has received support moving to the Tidyman's site. After a story about possible new library locations appeared in Monday's Inter Lake, nearly 60 people submitted comments to the library voicing their support of the Tidyman's location, Crowley said.

At the meeting, several more community members spoke in favor of keeping the library downtown.

"I certainly believe that a library is the heart and soul of a community," said Gil Jordan, director of the Museum at Central School. "Big box stores and developers think that Kalispell is moving north, but there is a strong community downtown."

Karen Haarr, a local real estate agent, agreed.

"I absolutely strongly feel the location of the library needs to be in the downtown central core," she said.

Harry Burnell, who lives by Lake Blaine, remembers walking to the library when it was still located in what is now the Hockaday Museum of Art when he was growing up.

"I had a strong connection as a child with the Carnegie Library," he said. "We as kids and poor people, a lot of us have become more successful simply because the library was there."

Longtime local veterinarian Barbara Calm said her children have the same connection with the library.

"I raised my kids in this library, literally," she said. "If the library moves up to Depot-land, it's dead to me. I don't go there."

If the library moved out of town, it would be more difficult for children and people without cars to reach, Burnell said. "I'm for keeping it in town."

Jordan agreed that moving the library to the community college campus would make it difficult to access.

"If you move the library way north of town, there's only one way to get to it, and that's to drive," he said. "You can walk eight or 10 blocks, but you can't walk up the hill and you can't ride bikes."

Moving the library out of the downtown would destroy the city's sense of community, said Jackie Kieser, who lives just a few blocks away.

"If you want to take our library and move it up to no man's land, you might as well take the courthouse and Woodland Park, too," she said, "because this town would have no personality."

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com