Funding new library a welcome decision

Far be it from us to gush over a city construction project, but we are having a hard time coming up with anything negative about the decision Wasilla voters have made to fund a new library in the city.

First of all, have you been to the Wasilla library lately? Cramped would be a generous description of both the facility inside and the accident-waiting-to-happen parking lot outside.

The city has simply outgrown that old building and needs a new one. Few disagree on that point. The friction over the months and years the city has worked to find a way to build a new library has been about the details. What size should it be? Where should it go? How will it be funded?

Watchers of the current debate over what to do with the city-owned Meta Rose Square will recall that building was to be a library before it was revealed unsuitable.

We think the voters in the city, in approving the 1 percent sales tax to pay for a new 23,500-square-foot library did more than just provide a meeting place and information resource for themselves.

The majority of the current users of the Wasilla library come from outside city limits. In fact, it’s the third busiest library in the state behind Anchorage and Fairbanks. It’s kind of a quirk of Wasilla, though, that a lot of those who pay city sales tax also live outside the city. Wasilla levies no property tax, so sales tax funds everything. That means people shopping in Wasilla — like all of us do — are contributing to city amenities.

Perhaps the voters there recognized this and decided it would be a nice gesture to give those of us who live outside its boundaries something more for our money. Those of us who live in unincorporated parts of the Mat-Su Borough should be grateful.

We also believe a good public process — albeit one that was arduous, contentious and filled with more than a few false starts — has led to quite possibly the best possible location for a library at the intersection of Crusey Street and Swanson Avenue.

For one thing, the access to the facility will be off Crusey Street or Swanson Avenue or both. These are good roads, both recently upgraded and more than able to handle the traffic. After Mat-Su Borough voters had to approve $16.2 million in bonds to fix, upgrade or build access to numerous school facilities, it’s worth noticing when a project comes with such wonderful access.

The plot is also very close to both Wasilla High School and Wasilla Middle School. Putting an information repository that close to the city’s biggest education facilities is a great idea.

Finally, we believe the library will go a long way to helping the city recover from what has been a longtime reputation as being a hastily developed warren of box stores and strip malls. The plans we’ve seen are for a handsome facility worthy of a maturing city like Wasilla.

So three cheers for Wasilla voters. You sure did the right thing last week.