Wasilla, borough work on land deal

WASILLA — Once upon a time in 1978, the city built its downtown public library. Use of the library soon outgrew its 8,000 square feet of space, and more than 20 years of wishing to build a new facility is now moving from the fiction section to non-fiction.

Although a 1997 city of Wasilla space needs assessment showed that, at the time, the Wasilla Public Library had outgrown its building two years prior, efforts to build a new facility have been more of a fairy tale for library supporters.

That chapter may be close to an end, however, as the city and Mat-Su Borough are entering negotiations to transfer a four-acre parcel of land near downtown to build a new Wasilla Meta-Rose Public Library.

The Mat-Su Borough Assembly has authorized the borough manager to negotiate transfer of the property, located near the intersection of Crusey Street and Swanson Avenue just south of Wasilla Middle School, said Archie Giddings, the city’s Public Works director.

“It’s a nice site and the school has no plans for it,” Giddings said. “It’s close to downtown, close to schools and it’s part of our comprehensive plan to have a downtown anchor.”

The new library is envisioned to have 24,000 square feet of space that could be expanded to 48,000 square feet by adding a second floor, Mayor Verne Rupright said. That additional space could help the facility, which costs the city $956,000 a year to operate, generate some of its own revenue by leasing the second-floor space for charter schools. Also, developing the parcel will open up the south side of the Middle School property to allow an alternative bus access to the school.

“This is a process that’s been going on for 28 years,” Rupright said. “We finally got it through the school board, then it went to the assembly (last month).”

Overall, the new facility is expected to cost about $14 million, Giddings said. Funding for that construction is expected to come from city funds, grant funding and from the state. On the city’s short 2012 wish list for state lawmakers is $7 million for the project.

Rupright said he’s encouraged by other state action in helping fund libraries in Kenai and Anchorage.

In 2010, 97,000 visitors came through the doors at the library, with 80 percent being borough residents who live outside city limits, Rupright said.

Identifying the site and working with the borough to obtain the land is a significant step, Giddings said, adding that in his 10 years as Public Works director, building a new library has always been a dream for the city. Getting ownership of the land will help the city secure other grant funding.

“Once we have the land, we can make more serious proposals to the state,” he said.

A 2010 Friends of Wasilla Public Library group memorandum to Wasilla City Council advocating for the project cites research that shows library visits since 2005 increased by 18 percent and total circulation of library materials grew by 24 percent. Use of computers exploded by 64 percent.

That growth of library use coincides with the Mat-Su, and the Wasilla area specifically, as the fastest-growing population area of the state during the past decade, Giddings said. Overall, the Mat-Su Borough’s population increased by 50 percent to nearly 89,000 people, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.

Although the library is a city facility, a significant percentage of its users live outside city limits, the memo says, with its service area reaching an estimated 39,000 residents. Adjusting on the low end for 2.35 percent growth, that’s expected to increase during the next 20 years to about 62,000 people.

Given those numbers and need for a new library, the borough assembly sees the Wasilla project as a priority, said Assemblyman Vern Halter.

“We’re going to move ahead,” he said. “They have the land identified, so we want the borough manager to work with (Rupright) to get them their land. I think it’s far enough along now. Our involvement is to make sure they have property to build on. There are many borough residents using the Wasilla library all the time. That’s the growth area, and obviously, the old library isn’t going to handle it anymore.”

Now that property has been identified and it seems Wasilla is going to acquire it, the city may be writing a happy ending to its library story, said Rupright, adding he’d love that ending to be “and they lived happily ever after.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.