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Library to float EIRC plan
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
By Jessica Beym
jbeym@sjnewsco.com
WASHINGTON TWP. The library board plans to approach the township council Thursday with a proposal to purchase an educational office building on Delsea Drive and refurbish it into a new, larger municipal library.

Mike Allen, chairman of the library board of trustees, said the board will present appraisal figures and conceptual plans for the Education Information Resource Center (EIRC).

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If the council signs off on the plan, it could mean the end of a decade-long struggle to find a larger library to suit the township's population.

"We have a tentative agreement to ballpark figures," Allen said. "The whole purpose of the meeting is to let the township council know where we are and give them a chance to think about it."

While he wouldn't release the appraisal figures, Allen said the library board has enough money to purchase the building outright, rather than do a lease-purchase agreement.

However, Council President Michelle Martin said it's highly unlikely the council will make any formal decision Thursday because it still has yet to see the municipal budget.

"Nothing will happen until after that budget has been presented to us and we can see from there what needs to be done," Martin said.

Martin said she doesn't know if the library board will ask the township council to help pay for certain fees associated with securing bonds to pay for the purchase.

"That's part of their presentation, to show us they can do this," Martin said. "They might have the upfront money, but do we have to take out a bond for 20 years? The project could be great, (but) I just don't know that we're ready to do that."

Mayor Paul Moriarty believes otherwise.

"I think that's important that we press forward," said Moriarty. "The library's finances and their decisions on how to go about making a better and bigger library should be independent from the township."

The 20,000-square-foot building on Delsea Drive would be an ideal facility for a new library, Allen said. It's double the current size of the Margaret E. Heggan Library on East Holly Avenue and is already used for similar library use.

Allen pointed out it's also a much more viable choice than purchasing the 46,000-square-foot Skater's Choice skating rink on Holly Avenue an option that had been mulled over by the board and local officials since August.

"EIRC is really a much better facility than the skating rink and even the skating rink owner acknowledged it's a better facility," Allen said. "But we didn't take Skater's Choice off the table until this came along."

During the discussions about Skater's Choice, issues were raised regarding the size of the parking lot, the extra space in the building, the costs of turning the dark rink into a well-lit library, and some financial issues that the owner was facing.

The EIRC building, however, is also just down the road from the current library and is used for educational training for local teachers and teacher aides.

"It's pretty much an open building," Allen said. "Part of it right now is designed to be a library facility. They have a lot more offices and there's a printing center in the building that we probably wouldn't use. And it's a convenient location. It's not in the center of town, but it's a convenient location."

Allen said the library board will be meeting tonight to discuss the proposals and the plans will go before the council Thursday at 6 p.m. in the municipal building.

"They have to concur that we can do this because this building would belong to the township, and the township council is the one that has ultimate approval," Allen said.