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BRIDGET HALL GRUMETThe two previous recipients of the old Hudson library have since moved on, but four groups are still interested.
HUDSON - Twice the county has given away the old Hudson library building on Old Dixie Highway, providing a home for a needy nonprofit agency.
And both times, within a few years, the groups graciously handed the building back.
It's not that they didn't appreciate the space or like the location. One group simply folded, and the other ran into the same problem that prompted the county to build the new Hudson Regional Library in 1990.
"We kind of warned everybody it's got flooding problems, and you're taking it as-is," County Administrator John Gallagher said. "They take it - and then they give it back."
The county might still find a use for the pale blue stucco building at 14120 Old Dixie Highway. Several nonprofit groups have expressed interest in using the 0.65-acre property, which is valued at $74,950. The County Commission this week will discuss what to do with it.
The commission meets at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the West Pasco Government Center in New Port Richey.
The 3,900-square-foot structure, originally home to Hudson's volunteer firefighters, sits in the flood-prone area west of U.S. 19 and south of Hudson Avenue. When it was a library in the 1980s, staffers used to move up the books from the bottom shelves whenever a major storm approached, Hudson Regional Library manager Loraine Cors said.
An army of volunteers renovated the building in 1992, when the Lighthouse for the Blind of Pasco and Hernando counties moved in.
"Then the no-name storm hit us in 1993. It killed all of our remodeling," said Chris Paquin, administrative assistant for Lighthouse for the Blind. "We had 38 inches of water in the building."
The group began looking for grants and finally got state dollars to build its current home at 8610 Galen Wilson Blvd. in Port Richey. Staffers moved into their almost-finished quarters in October 1996, as Tropical Storm Josephine approached the coast.
The old library then became the new home for the Foundation for Computer Education, a group that fixed old computers and donated them to schools and others in need.
The flooding was a nuisance, and the carpet and some equipment got soaked during the 1998 El Nino rains, foundation treasurer Frank Mottola said. But that's not why the group left.
The foundation went out of business this year because president Frank Fischer wanted to move on, Mottola said. Fischer deeded the property back to the county in late March.
"He just told (the county) he was getting out and giving (the building) back to them," Mottola said.
Once again the 35-year-old building sits empty.
So far four groups have expressed interest in using it: West Pasco Habitat for Humanity, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4412 of Hudson, the Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Club and Hudson Seafest Inc.
- Bridget Hall Grumet covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is bhall@sptimes.com