By DEBBIE ROSEN
A new chapter in the story of the Island Park Library began this month, when construction crews gutted the inside of the old A & P on Long Beach Road to make room for a new two-story library. Last week, representatives from the library, village, and school district communities came together for a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the start of construction.
Expected to help anchor the downtown, the new library will be 13,500 square feet.
"It's wonderful," said Island Park Mayor Jacqueline Papatsos, following the ground breaking ceremony. "This is very much needed in the community and the one thing it has done is brought us together as a community. It just goes to show what can be done when everyone works together."
School Board Trustee Catherine Boddy agreed. "I can't wait for a year from today [expected time of completion]. This community needs this library."
Once completed, the first floor of the building will be home to a larger children's library with a toddler area, allowing parents to share books with their youngsters. Additionally, the first floor will have a separate computer area for children; an audio/video section, offering tapes, CD ROMS, books with CDs; quiet study areas; lots of room for books; and much needed offices for staff. The second floor is to house a reference area with computers, more quiet study areas, a meeting/conference room, a computer lab and more.
Voters overwhelmingly approved moving the library, now on Radcliffe Road, to Long Beach Road in January, 1999, when a $3.5 bond issue passed, 1,230 to 239.
The vote was historic, according to Ms. Boddy. "The turnout to vote was the biggest ever, even for a national election," she said. Upon approval of the 20-year bond, Island Park residents said yes to moving the library to Long Beach Road, rather than expanding the library where it stands now. A referendum to expand was put before voters some half a dozen years ago and was voted down by the community.
While the bond issue passed in the beginning of 1999, construction began just this past month. According to Library Board President Tom McCreight, construction plans had to be finalized and filed with the New York State Board of Education. When the state approved plans this spring, the job was sent out to bid and general contractor New York Contracting was hired to begin construction. The contract between the school district and the contractor is a year-long agreement, Mr. McCreight.
"Before the next school year [2001/02] would surely be an appropriate time for a ribbon cutting," said McCreight, who was delighted with the start of construction. "We're all very excited construction started. The community worked together to benefit the village, particularly the students," he added. "We'll have a meeting room on the second floor for the community to use and we hope this will bring people together."
The Island Park School District's acting superintendent, Dr. Edward Price said, this past week Moody's Investor Services gave an A3 positive recommendation rating on the $3.5 million dollars in bonds. The majority of the funding for the library, $2.9 million, is slated for the renovation and relocation to the Long Beach Road. The cost to buy the Long Beach Road property was $600,000.
The average Island Park homeowner, whose home is assessed at $5,000, will see an annual tax increase of $31 or two-and-a-half additional dollars each month. In the year 2002, the tax burden will be off-set when the current school bond is retired.
Dr. Price said the new library is just what students need to keep up with school work, especially at the high school level. "We don't have a high school and our kids need a good strong public library with Internet service and a research department. But what's so important is what this will do for the entire community."
The expansion of the Island Park Library has been a long time coming. The last time the library grew in size was back in 1969 when an addition to the Radcliffe Road library doubled its size. Time and technology have taken their toll, and the library has experienced a serious case of growing pains.
Library Director Jackie Malone said the lack of space is obvious. Computers and filing cabinets line one wall of the current meeting room, which has had to double as both the children's story-time area and an area for quiet study. "This existing facility is too small to say the least," she said, smiling and holding blueprints to the new facility.
"Computers are right here next to the reference table so there isn't any quiet study area, we don't have enough best sellers for our patrons because we have no place to put them," she said. "We don't even have enough room for us."
The children's area contains tightly packed book shelves and their small tables, made for sitting and book reading, are piled high with papers due a lack of offices. "It will be nice to have an attractive place in which to work and be able to offer services, we agree people should have and don't now."
Once the new library is built, the current library building's fate is unknown. The building belongs to the school district. According to Dr. Price, a Long Range Plan/Facilities Use Committee consisting of representatives from throughout the community was formed to look into the future possibilities for its use.
