February 25, 2010 by Lynn Knell Shuswap News:
At a press conference on Monday, February 22, 2010, the Chair of the Okanagan Regional Library (ORL) Board, Ted Bacigalupo announced that a new library branch will be built at 2808 30th Ave. in Vernon. The land and financing needed to build the new facility has been made possible by a co-operation between the City of Vernon, the North Okanagan Regional District (NORD) and the ORL.
architectural concept drawings document.
The city is generously selling the land, which has been a parking lot for many years, to the ORL for the grand sum of $10 and also waiving the costs for zoning and bylaw issues. Scheduled to be open by 2013, the new library will replace the present undersized one on 32nd Ave. Chairman Bacigalupo commented on the project, “The current branch is 13,000 square feet and according to ORL guidelines, it should be approximately 30,000 square feet for the population base it serves.” “The City is thankful it’s able to do this, and in some respects has to thank the vision and foresight of previous Councils,” said Vernon Mayor Wayne Lippert during the press conference. “This piece of land was purchased for an intersection that, at that time (the 1980s), they anticipated would be needed. Since then it has been surplus land, and I can tell you our Council is pleased it is now going to such an excellent use at no extra cost to the taxpayers of this community.”The NORD Board is also supporting this project by applying to the Municipal Finance Authority on the ORL’s behalf to borrow up to $11 million for construction costs. The new branch will have room to expand its collection and more room for programming, study spaces, and computer stations.
“Our customers are crowded in every corner of this building. For example, we squish 80-100 children and parents into our small children’s area for Monday’s storyime,” says Vernon Branch Head Maureen Curry. “We are absolutely thrilled we’ll be able to offer our customers more comfort and expanded services in the new building.”
2 comments:
why do we need a library, when the old one isnt really all that busy. what a waste of taxpayers money.
Yay! at long last, finally a new, badly needed larger facility. Been waiting for years for this!
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