Library too busy to wait for new building (Summerland)

By SUSAN McIVER, Special to the Herald Tuesday, September 18, 2007

SUMMERLAND -- David Mallory is fed up waiting for adequate new facilities for the Summerland Regional Library. Mallory, chair of the Friends of the Summerland Library Society, has written to the Okanagan Regional Library board expressing his frustration with the continuing delays and lack of communication from the District of Summerland regarding progress of the proposed new library building. In his Sept. 15 letter, Mallory requested the regional library board investigate other space for the library on a temporary lease basis until a new library is completed. "We know that other buildings with commercial space are pending and looking for tenants," he wrote. He also told the library board that space limitations and safety standards in the current building have reached the critical stage. "The library had to turn away almost half of the 150 applicants for the children’’s summer reading club due to overcrowding and fire regulations," Mallory said in a recent Penticton Herald interview. "There have also been incidents and falls involving seniors on the entrance ramp," he added.
Susan Kline, community librarian, said she’’d like to be able to get strollers, wheelchairs and walkers down every aisle.

It has long been recognized that the current library is too small to meet community needs. "The board believes that Summerland should have a larger library in accordance with branch guidelines. We’’re looking forward to doing the work in partnership with the municipality," said Lesley Dieno, Okanagan Regional Library executive director. Last summer, Summerland council directed staff to send a letter to the library board stating they are committed to selecting a private firm to develop municipal lands and construct a mixed-use building in the area of Wharton Street and Kelly Avenue. The Wharton Street redevelopment project would house the regional library in addition to combining residential and commercial space. The library, currently located in space leased from the municipality at 9525 Wharton St., has always been considered a cornerstone of the proposed redevelopment project. As stated in the letter to the library board, an occupancy permit was expected to be issued by June 30, 2008. Council fast-tracked plans for the new library in response to a letter Dieno wrote in July of last year. She informed council that library management was investigating a proposed mixed-use building at the corner of Rosedale and Peach Orchard Road as the site of a larger Summerland library.

The Rosedale Avenue building is among the buildings to which Mallory alluded in his letter. "We are working in closed sessions on the development agreement which includes such things as land pricing, option fees and what will be provided to the municipality," said economic development officer Scott Boswell. A public announcement concerning the agreement should be made within the next four weeks, according to Boswell. He anticipates sod will be turned this spring with completion of the library in the spring of 2009. Mallory and others interested in the library would like to believe a new library will be opened then, but they’’ve had their hopes dashed several times before.

"In the early 2000s there were plans for a new cultural centre that would have included a library and museum. Everything changed with the arrival of a new mayor, council and chief administrative officer," he said. "The Wharton Street delay has nothing to do with the library. This is a large and complex project with many parties involved, including the museum, badminton club and Parkdale Place Housing Society," Boswell said. The other large project currently under consideration by the municipality -- the Summerland Hills Golf Resort -- is also experiencing delays. Council recently extended the deadline for the developers of the golf resort to exercise their option to purchase municipal land and waived the $60,000 extension option fee because the developers were not responsible for the delay. "Wharton Street is much more important to Summerland than the golf resort, because it will transform the very town core," said former councillor Gordon Clark in a telephone interview. Clark is concerned about the amount of day-to-day attention the mayor and council is giving to the major projects.