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Better Library Facilities for Greater Vancouver
Election results
While a majority of voters (55.7%) approved funding for new, larger libraries for greater Vancouver, the March 9, 2004 bond measure
did not receive the supermajority (60%) required to pass. For complete election results, visit Clark County Elections.
Vancouver's libraries are a critical resource for our children. But while Greater Vancouver's population has quadrupled since the main library was built in 1963, the building is still the same size as 40 years ago. On Vancouver's busy east side, the Cascade Park branch is drastically undersized to serve area growth and demand for library services. Our libraries are a great value...and are one of the last great FREE places for families and individuals to go to for information and entertainment.
The library spent over two years carefully considering responsible solutions to facility challenges. Based on many hours of research and citizen input, the library board took action to place two proposals before Greater Vancouver voters on March 9, 2004. |
Amazing Facts
More books are checked out from the main Vancouver library than any other central library in the state.
The Cascade Park library checks out the MOST per square foot in the entire state. It truly is, "the busiest little library in Washington!"
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| Exemption for Seniors & Physically Disabled: There is a property tax exemption that may exempt you from excess levies such as this one. Visit the Northwest Justice Project Web site for details. |
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The March 9 ballot propositions encompassed three projects:
1) Remodeling and enlarging the 48,000 square-foot
 building
that houses Vancouver Community Library, the district's main library,
to 92,000 square feet, at its current site on E. Mill Plain Blvd. Vancouver residents
have resoundingly said they favor retention of this popular Central Park site. Additionally,
the City of Vancouver has dedicated use of the land for a public library at no cost to the district.
2) The second project is of particular interest to eastside
Vancouver  residents,
who have been served by the tiny, 2,500 square-foot Cascade Park Community Library
even as the area's population and demand for library services has exploded. A 25,000 square
foot replacement library would be built on 136th Ave. next to the Firstenburg Community
Center, currently under development. Again, the City would provide the site free to the library,
offering user convenience and building efficiencies by collocating the library with other community
services.
 3)
Consolidating and relocating administrative services and the processing center --
the behind-the-scenes workplace where thousands of new books are processed each year
and books are repaired -- to one lower-cost, warehouse-type building removed from the
public library site. This would make possible the expansion of public space at the main
library site, where district offices are currently located in the basement. (Due to lack
of room at the main library, processing services were relocated several years ago a few miles
away in leased space at Columbia Business Center.) The district will
either purchase or build an off-site facility.
TWO measures for voters on March 9:
Proposition 1: Forming a Library Capital Facility Area
This proposition is required to create a library sub-district. There is no funding attached to this proposition. Passage requires 50 percent + 1 yes votes.
A Washington state law passed in 1995 allows library districts to sub-divide for purposes of funding the construction of new facilities. The premise behind the law is that only those residents who live within a specific library's service area and benefit most from it should pay for its facility projects. Fort Vancouver Regional Library District used this provision in 1998 to successfully propose to Fire District 6 voters that they form an LCFA and approve funding to build Three Creeks Community Library.
The Greater Vancouver LCFA now being proposed would encompass all residents within the Vancouver urban growth boundary except those in Fire District 6. That is, Vancouver residents who will be the beneficiaries of close access to two new libraries would pay for remodeling and construction of their Vancouver libraries.
Proposition 2: Authorizing facilities bonds
The second proposition authorizes the sale of up to $48 million in general obligation bonds to
remodel, acquire and construct new Vancouver and Cascade Park libraries and a separate district
operations facility. This translates to approximately 17 cents per 1,000 dollars of assessed
property value, or $30 per year for owners of a $175,000 home. The bond measure requires a
60 percent voter approval.
What will these new facilities mean for Greater Vancouver? Adequate, dedicated space for children and teen programs; quiet zones for reading and studying; better access and services to seniors and people with disabilities; at least 100,000 new volumes added to the collection; 100 new public computers to meet ever-increasing demand; badly needed community meeting spaces; seismic upgrades, and energy efficient buildings that will serve the needs of residents well into the 21st century.
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Overall project history
-Phone Survey Results
-Community Focus Groups Results
Charts & Drawings
Below are expansion ideas suggested by the public and documented by architects.
These conceptual drawings are the result of citizen comments taken at public forums, focus groups, surveys,
and community design symposia. More detailed designs would be developed with extensive community
input following a successful election outcome.
-Design Symposium: Cascade Park (Oct. 2002)
-Design Symposium: main library (Oct. 2002)
-Possible space allotments: Cascade Park (Dec. 2001)
-Possible space allotments: main library (public areas)
-Possible space allotments: main library (work areas)
-Possible space allotments: operations & processing
-Proposed Cascade Park Library Site at Firstenburg Community Center
Meeting Notes
(note: meeting notes are in Portable Document Format (PDF), you may need to download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader before you can open them)
-November 5, 2001 Public Forum
-November 8, 2001 Public Forum
-February 19, 2002 Public Forum
-February 21, 2002 Public Forum
-November 20, 2001 CRT Meeting
-December 18, 2001 CRT Meeting
-January 15, 2002 CRT Meeting
-March 6, 2002 CRT Meeting
-April 23, 2002 CRT Meeting
-October 25, 2001 Staff Meeting
-November 7, 2001 Staff Meeting
-November 8, 2001 Staff Meeting
-November 9, 2001 Staff Meeting
-February 14-15, 2002 Staff Meetings
-February 19, 2002 Staff Meeting
Questions?
Contact Vancouver Projects Planner David DiCesare at (360) 759-4807 or by email at ddicesare@fvrl.org.
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