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November 4, 2009

Book lover sells home for new community library

northjersey.com
Monday, November 2, 2009
Last updated: Monday November 2, 2009, 10:24 AM
BY BARBARA WILLIAMS
The Record
STAFF WRITER
WEST MILFORD — Edna Finn reads about six hours a day, so it's only fitting the house she has lived in for 70 years will one day become the site of a new community library.
Finn, 90, is selling the township her home, the store next to it and the 1 1/2 acres they sit on for $500,000. In exchange, she will live in the house, on Union Valley Road next to town hall, until her death.

"I really wasn't thinking about selling — I had never given any thought to what would happen to the house once I was gone," Finn said in her living room, where she spends most days reading and watching people pass on the busy street. "But when one of my sons said he was approached about selling so the town could build a new library, I thought about it and realized yes, that's a good thing."

Buying the site ends a decades-long search for a location to expand or replace West Milford's 6,500-square-foot library, which is so crowded that all the books can't be displayed at once.
Library board trustees have in the past contended with failed referendum attempts, a lack of funding and, finally, restrictions from the Highlands Act for new construction.
But this time it looks as though trustees will prevail. With the town council's support and bonding, the library board will use $2 million it has saved for the new project and pay off the bonds with donations and fund-raisers, said Douglas Ott, president of the board.
"We worked very hard for this," Ott said. "There was terrific cooperation between the council, the board and the residents — and what makes it even better is that no tax dollars will be used."

The new building will be constructed on land behind Finn's house and the store razed for the driveway. The future of Finn's house has not been determined yet. The township will take over the old library and move offices currently housed in the town hall basement that are not handicapped-accessible into that structure.
Ott said engineering and architectural work needs to be done before he will have cost estimates for the new library.
Back in 2001, trustees said the price for a new building ranged between $3.2 million and $4 million.
But before any construction can begin, approval is needed from the state Highlands Council, since the entire town sits in the designated preservation area for watershed land.
Mayor Bettina Bieri and other local officials who met with state representatives several months ago said they were given the impression that a library would be approved, though the town still has to go through the permit process.

Although Finn's Cape Cod-style home, built in 1927 by her in-laws, is not an official historic building, it holds a place in township history, as does Finn.
When she married her husband, Jimmy Finn, Edna moved into the house with him and his parents, who had built the house and store.
They raised six children who eventually gave her eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Jimmy, a local firefighter for decades and a fire chief for 12 years, died in 1995.
Edna did her part for the fire department as well. For almost 30 years, beginning in the 1940s, when she was at home raising her children, she had a phone residents would call to report a fire. When a call came in, she would walk to the new station two doors away and hit a switch to activate the siren.
"Then I wrote the address on a blackboard and when the men came to the firehouse, they knew where to go," Finn explained. "Later we had a switch here in the basement for a while that would sound the siren."

As she aged, many suggested she move into an assisted-living center, but she never considered leaving her home. Although she needs the help of a walker, Finn said "I can go to a window on any side of the house and see a different view. Why would I want to leave?"
Her three-bedroom, two-bath house has had various improvements over the years, but the footprint hasn't been altered. Her children help with the upkeep, and the house is filled with her books as well as toy trucks, houses and saltwater fish tanks that her son, Edward Finn, collects.

Her family — including Edward, who lives with her — will have six months to remove items from the property after her death.
"I don't know where I'm going to go when I have to move out," said Edward Finn, who works for the local school district. "I'll think about it then."
E-mail: williamsb@northjersey.com

Posted by tumulty at November 4, 2009 9:57 AM

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