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Due date looms for library expansion
By LOGAN D. MABE, Times Staff Writer
WESTCHASE -- For proponents of a suitably sized library in the area, it all comes down to crunch time Wednesday when Hillsborough County Commissioners will consider granting a larger facility. Commissioners already have approved a 10,000-square-foot Upper Tampa Bay library to be located in Westchase. But library backers, pushing for more space for the growing reading community, hope to convince county leaders to approve a 15,000-square-foot building. Friends of the Upper Tampa Bay Library president Maureen Gauzza and Upper Tampa Bay Library Foundation president Brett Scharringhausen have been pushing for an increase ever since the library was proposed three years ago. "Maureen has been working behind the scenes and the foundation has been working behind the scenes with the Library Board to ensure that we get the additional 5,000 square feet," Scharringhausen said, "because there's more than enough population to support it and there's a need for it." Gauzza and Scharringhausen are urging residents who hope to use the library to come to Wednesday's meeting to voice their concerns. "We're looking for a show of community support," Scharringhausen said. "We're trying to get a whole bunch of people out to sign up and talk and support it." The commission is tentatively scheduled to hear the proposal on the library expansion on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., although speakers must sign in before the meeting begins at 9 a.m. Gauzza thinks there's a good case to be made for the larger facility. "In February, we held the important presentations," she said. "The consultants (Wilson & Miller) concurred that the UTB library would be too small for the population." Census figures revised since 2000 show that as many as 66,000 residents could use the library, Gauzza said. "When Wilson & Miller gave their report for the service area analysis, they came up with only 37,900, but even based on that they said it would be too small." In late February, the Library Board, which makes recommendations to the County Commission, endorsed the 5,000-square-foot expansion. In November 2000, the County Commission voted to dedicate a $5-million budget surplus to new library construction. The winners in the deal were library backers in south Brandon and Upper Tampa Bay. The Upper Tampa Bay group came away with $3.6-million and a commitment to have the library up and running by 2004. That's two years sooner than a previous plan, which targeted the completion for 2006. -- Logan D. Mabe can be reached at 269-5304 or at mabe@sptimes.com
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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