Council Will Ponder New Library Site

A proposal to demolish the Community Concourse convention center to make way for a $65-million central library/administration building will be considered today by the City Council, sitting as the Downtown Redevelopment Agency.

Last week, the Centre City Development Corp. issued a report recommending that the council build the new library on the convention center site as part of a comprehensive renovation of the Community Concourse under the auspices of the redevelopment agency. But while CCDC is convinced that the Concourse is the best location for the library, some developers and council members are not.

At a meeting of CCDC’s directors Friday, developers submitted proposals to build the library at other sites, including the library’s current location at 820 E Street. Although some of the preliminary bids were lower than that of the Community Concourse project, CCDC Executive Vice President Gerald Trimble said the agency’s recommendation presents the only feasible plan.

However, the CCDC plan faces a number of financial and administrative barriers. Foremost among these is the fact that the Community Concourse presently lies outside CCDC jurisdiction. The Columbia Redevelopment Project must be expanded four blocks eastward so that tax increment revenue from other downtown redevelopment may be used to fund the library project. Although such an expansion might be a lengthy and expensive process, Trimble says it is essential to the building of the library.

“I’m not trying to diminish the magnitude of the work we have to do, but I think one thing that’s pretty clear is that there’s no other way to fund these other proposals,” Trimble said.

Nonetheless, City Councilman William Jones said at Friday’s meeting he will recommend to the city’s Public Services and Safety Committee that CCDC be directed to study other possible downtown locations for the library. Reached late Monday, Councilman Uvaldo Martinez concurred that the city should take a “wait and see” approach to determining the most suitable location.

“I think we’re probably a ways away from selecting a new site for the library,” Martinez said. “In my discussions with CCDC, Gerry Trimble said that the private sector cannot build a library and have it be a profitable venture. That may very well be where it comes out, but at this point I think we ought to give the private sector interests who have come forward on it a chance.”

Among the private sector interests that Martinez said have made attractive proposals is Starboard Development Co., which has offered to build the library on the eastern end of downtown and charge the city rent for its use.

However, Councilman Mike Gotch said that he has long believed the Concourse is the only place the city can afford to build the library.

“I think I am further ahead on this issue than the rest of the council,” Gotch said. “I’m convinced that once the council studies this issue, they’ll see the concourse is the only logical place for it to go.”

Gotch also downplayed the difficulty involved in expanding the Columbia Redevelopment area to include the concourse.

“It would take less than a year and it would give us a public project to use the tax increment money on,” he said.

According to Gotch, these tax increment funds could be augmented by revenue generated by the sale of the old library site and the saving of $500,000 a year the city presently pays to subsidize the Community Concourse convention center.

“With the combination of all these (sources of revenue) and perhaps a modest bond issue, the library could be built without seriously impacting the general fund,” he said. “I can’t think of anything better than a library that people of all walks of life and economic levels can use and enjoy. I think once the entire council focuses in on the need, it will conclude that the concourse is the only logical site.”