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Church could help fix library's problem© St. Petersburg Times published February 21, 2003 Palm Harbor is having the same problem as virtually every other Pinellas community that has a public library: Its library is bursting at the seams. So much for the prognosticators who said home computers and the Internet would be the death of libraries. Instead, libraries are more crowded than ever. Part of the reason is that they have changed with the times. No longer mere repositories for books, magazines and encyclopedias, libraries have computers, DVD movie collections, books on tape, music on compact discs, services for businesses and home-schooling families, meeting rooms and more. So as communities like Clearwater, Largo and Seminole are building new, bigger libraries, Palm Harbor, an unincorporated area, also must figure out how to expand to serve growing numbers of patrons. The 15-year-old facility on Nebraska Avenue was expanded from 15,000 square feet to 26,000 square feet in 1993, but in recent years, residents have complained about a lack of space for the amenities they want in their library. They want some study rooms for when quiet is needed, more computers, more meeting space -- and they don't want to come to the library and find there is nowhere to park. The library staff also needs storage and office space. How to provide more space? Tearing the library down and building a new structure, or even putting a second floor on the existing building, would require, at worst, that the library shut down for a period, and at best would substantially inconvenience users and the staff. And merely expanding the building on the existing property would not address the need for substantially more parking. Plus, those alternatives don't fit the shoestring budget on which the Palm Harbor Library operates. Palm Harbor residents support their library with a quarter-mill tax. Instead, officials looked next door, to a 1-acre property just south of the library that is owned by Curlew Baptist Church. A 2,000-square-foot home sits on the large parcel. Library director Gene Coppola has proposed that the library purchase the property. It could use the house for library staff work space, which would free some 6,500 square feet of space inside the library building for public use. The remainder of the church property could be used for additional parking. Coppola was given permission to make an offer by the Palm Harbor Community Services Agency, which oversees the library and recreation programs. Both the agency and the county must approve the purchase. Coppola's idea is a creative solution to a difficult problem. With Palm Harbor seeing increasing development, it probably is wise to obtain the property next door to the library. The library may soon need another major expansion, and the church land could come in handy. But the price Palm Harbor is having to offer for the land, $250,000, is well above the appraisals of $160,000 and $180,000 obtained by the county. Surely, Curlew Baptist Church will want to be reasonable, taking into consideration that the library is a valued community institution funded by taxpayers.
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From the Times North Pinellas desks |
