Marion library backers have spent years studying options for a new facility. It’s time to take those plans to the people.

Marion Public Library Director Doug Raber had a question for the Marion City Council during its most recent work session.

'In your mind, what's the most important thing the library does for Marion?” Raber asked, after giving a brief update on the library's drive to replace its current home with a new, larger library. And that larger public library could be part of a private, mixed-use uptown development, including housing and retail space.

After a pause, Council member Kim Etzel said providing public access to computers is important. Her colleague, Joe Spinks, talked about programs held at the library, both for adults and children. 'Large meeting rooms are something that's sorely needed,” Spinks said.

Mayor Allen 'Snooks” Bouska called the library's children's programs 'outstanding.” Council member Paul Draper hoped that more citizens could be given access to copies of historic books and records in the library's archives. Cody Crawford also pointed to the library providing online access and a children's section that's 'always full.”

'It fills a hole in the community,” Crawford said of the library.

But Council member Mary Lou Pazour had a question of her own. She wondered if Raber could come back to the council to answer citizens' questions about the developing project and the decision to tear down the current facility, opened in 1996, which has stirred debate in the community. 'They're the ones who use the library,” she said.

Raber said he would be available, and assured the council that public input will be sought now that the library's board of trustees has hired an architect, Engberg Anderson, and soon will have plans for citizens to view and evaluate.

'This is just a starting point,” Raber said.

It's true that the plan is just now taking shape. The Library Board has hired Ryan Companies to develop the project, but key details have yet to be determined. That includes how much the development will cost, how, exactly, it will be financed and what the city's share of the price tag will be. Ryan will own the development so the library's lease terms also are yet to be settled.

'It's not even really a project yet. It's an idea,” said Ryan's Brad Thomason, who lives in Marion, during a meeting with our editorial board, Raber and library board members last week.

But one major detail appears to be settled. And that's the Library Board's decision to tear down and build new.

'The cost-benefit analysis is clear,” Raber told our board. 'We can get a better building for less cost if we do it that way.”

CURRENT LIBRARY DEFICIENCIES

The path to this point can be traced back to 2009. That's when Marion leaders and residents embarked on the 'Imagine 8” community planning process, identifying eight major projects that would enhance quality of life in the community. Expanding the current library, opened in 1996, was one of those final projects.

In 2013, the Library's board appointed a Renovation and Expansion Committee made up of trustees, members of the library foundation, community stakeholders and Council member Crawford. The committee and Raber's final work product, a 40-page Facility Needs Assessment, was completed in May 2014.

The assessment contends that although Marion's library circulation numbers rank high among its peer Iowa institutions, including libraries in Ames, Bettendorf, Ankeny, Cedar Falls, Coralville, Dubuque, Mason City, Urbandale and West Des Moines, it ranks near the bottom of the list in square-footage, staffing and other measures of capacity. It concludes that Marion's 24,500-square foot library can't meet the needs of a fast-growing community with a population expected to approach 60,000 by 2035.

The needs assessment also lists numerous structural and design deficiencies in the current library, including inadequate space for public meetings, children's programing and materials, computers and for displaying high-demand items. It pans the library's traffic flow, from its cramped shelves to its check out desk, and says it's expansion options for the current facility are limited.

The library, according to the report, has a leaky roof, non-energy-efficient doors and windows, obsolete lighting and smelly, unventilated restrooms. 'By every measure of the kind of library Marion needs, Marion is behind,” the needs assessment concludes.

THE CASE FOR BUILDING NEW

The needs assessment led the board to appoint a 'Charette Team” to conduct an analysis of the library's building options. It was guided by Wisconsin-based Engberg Anderson's Joe Huberty, who has designed dozens of public libraries, including Iowa City's downtown library. The panel included Council member Spinks, stakeholders and citizens, and issued its report at the end of July 2014.

The Charette Team's 52-page analysis concluded that renovating the current library would be a more expensive, less cost-effective and less desirable option than pursuing a new, 47,000 square-foot library.Inaddition, the team lauded the potential economic development benefit of connecting the library to a mixed-use housing/retail development.

'The Charette Team recognizes that merely renovating and expanding the current facility will lose the economic benefit of a mixed-use development and result in a less than optimal library facility. It also recognizes that moving forward with a mixed-use plan depends on developer interest and commitment,” the report concludes.

The Library Board found its developer in Ryan, a commercial real estate, construction and management firm based in Minneapolis with Cedar Rapids Regional office. Ryan's initial concept pointed to a $28 million development including a $12 million, 47,000 square-foot library, plsu apartments and retail space. The development would use the library's existing site as well as a city-owned parking lot across 11th street and, possibly, other adjacent lots that could be purchased. Ryan would bankroll much of he project, with the city's share of the project initially estimated at $10 million. But potential fundraising and public/private partnerships could reduce that amount. Raber said Ryan is expected to buy the current library for $2 million.

All of these numbers can change as the actual project plan takes shape.

WHAT ABOUT PUBLIC INPUT?

The financing structure wouldn't include bonded debt, so it also wouldn't require a public vote. That doesn't sit well with some Marion City Council members and residents.

Marion voters rendered a mixed library verdict in 2013, approving a local sales tax including $5 million for library capital projects over the next 10 years while defeating an effort to raise a tax levy that funds library operations.

'This isn't a matter of avoiding a vote,” Raber wrote in an email earlier this month. 'It's a matter of not adding to the City's debt. It looks like there may be a way to finance a new library without adding debt or increasing property taxes by increasing the debt levy. That's why the Board is exploring a mixed-use project - to leverage private interest to achieve a public good.

'There isn't a book to read about how to do this. We're writing it,” he wrote.

PUBLIC INPUT IS KEY

Libraries as part of mixed-use development aren't entirely new to The Corridor. Libraries in Iowa City and Coralville are integral pieces in business and housing developments growing up around them. San Francisco, King County, Wash., and Milwaukee are home to mixed-use library developments.

It's an intriguing concept with much potential that should be thoroughly explored. In Cedar Rapids, we've seen how public investments can entice private investment and development, so Marion's approach makes sense. If the public need for a larger library can be leveraged to spark a high-quality private development project and, in turn, reduce the scope of taxpayer costs, Marion could score two victories. The retail and residential portions eventually would bring in new property tax dollars.

But first, new library backers have an obligation to aggressively explain the need for a new library, and draw a clear line connecting Imagine 8's vision for expanding the current library to the ultimate decision to scrap a less-than-20-year-old facility and build new.

Although the library's future has been a hot topic in Library Board meetings and among those who closely follow its discussions, the general public is just now considering the implications of a big change for this important community institution. The plan should be pitched to the public with the same thoroughness as it would be if a public vote were looming.

Library leaders and allies must get the word out and gather broad public opinions and ideas beyond the highly interested few. They've pledged to provide ample opportunities for public comment in the months ahead, and we'll be watching.

But by the same token, we hope that debate centers on what Marion needs in its library, not whether we should have libraries at all. So long as our communities need access to books, tools and programs that shape young minds, access to technology that's shaping our future and access to public spaces where communities can collaborate and learn, we're going to need public libraries.

With those critical roles in mind, we urge Marion to make sure the public interest remains the top priority as it shapes this unique public-private project. The library's needs should not take a back seat to commercial considerations.

Libraries play a vital role, as Marion's City Council members can attest. And that's what it's so important that Marion get started on the big job of informing the public, get going on the process of gathering public input and, in the end, get it right.

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