Freeholders this week authorized $41,000 to Garrison Architects for additional site investigation.
The building will also need approvals from the state's Coastal Area Facilities Review Act.

Sea Isle City officials selected the site on 48th Street from several options, including the site of the existing library on John F. Kennedy Boulevard.

The Sea Isle City library is one of two new buildings Cape May County is planning for county branches.

A new beachfront library in Stone Harbor is the other.

The buildings are about the same size - each about 11,000 square feet - and will include space for both towns' local museums. The buildings, which are funded through the county, are expected to cost about $9 million combined.

Because library funding is based on ratables, the two shore communities are the biggest contributors, each paying about $1.4 million annually.

County library officials worried about the possibility of losing them.

Avalon, the former highest paying municipality, left the county system, starting its own library in 2005.

In Stone Harbor, borough officials selected a site on 96th Street, overlooking the beach.

O'Connor said the county needs to negotiate with the state about the aesthetics of the location of the facility and its proximity to the beach.

Aesthetic guidelines would have the library set back farther away from the beach, although county and municipal officials want a waiver, he said.

"I believe we can justify a waiver based on it being a public facility with public access," he said.

The building will also need CAFRA approval.

Stone Harbor Mayor Suzanne Walters said she envisions a library where patrons can read a book and look out over the beach. The library can be its own draw in the borough, she said.

"We're hoping what it turns out to be is a destination for people," Walters said. "We're hoping the Stone Harbor branch can be the flagship for the whole county library system, and it can be an attraction of its own."

To e-mail Brian Ianieri at The Press:

BIanieri@pressofac.com