By Eric Stevick
Herald Writer
ARLINGTON — A new library could be built downtown next to a new city hall following a city council vote Tuesday night.
The council followed an Arlington Library Board recommendation in setting aside a portion of the Commons property, just south of the existing City Hall on Olympic Avenue, for a new library.
There is one major catch, however.
Voters in a specially formed taxing district would have to approve construction bonds on a fall ballot. The city, in turn, has committed $500,000 toward the project.
Council Member Dan Anderson tried to include a provision to make the council support contingent on the library installing filters to prevent Internet pornography on its computers.
His motion was defeated 4-2 with Council Member Steve Baker joining him.
"In my whole soul and gut I feel like this is an issue I have to continue to fight," Anderson said.
Other council members argued it was an issue for the courts to decide and should not affect their support for the building site.
Tuesday’s vote was significant because it confirmed the city council wants to have the library built on the four-acre Commons property where a new city hall will be built in the next few years.
An architect’s study considered four sites: expanding the existing library on North Washington Avenue; remodeling Arlington High School’s historic "A building" after it becomes vacant; building anew in the Jensen Business area; or building on the Commons property.
The library board concluded that the library should be built in the downtown core, which follows a 2001 master plan for the development of the Commons property.
Based on the council vote, the city will determine the value of the two acres the library would use and could provide it to the Library Capital Facilities Area, a taxing district that approximately follows the Arlington School District boundaries, as part of its $500,000 commitment.
"Speedy resolution of questions concerning property costs is necessary for us to be able to consider a September bond election," Carl Gabrielson, chairman of the library board, said in a letter to the city.
The bond measure would require a 60 percent supermajority to pass, said Art Weeks, executive director of the Sno-Isle Regional Library System, of which the Arlington library is a branch.
"We certainly are looking to do this in the most economical way possible and in a location that is most agreeable to the people who are voting for this," Weeks said.
If a library construction bond fails in the fall, the library district would dissolve and would have to be reformed by another election.
Although Arlington voters approved the formation of a special district to build a new library in November of 2000, they rejected a $7.6 million proposal to build a library.
You can call Herald Writer Eric Stevick at 425-339-3446
or send e-mail to stevick@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
