Money moved toward land buy

FAYETTEVILLE — The library’s board on Monday officially signed off on spending $2 million to buy the old City Hospital land so the library can expand onto adjacent property.

The move comes after the Arkansas Supreme Court’s ruling March 16 affirming Washington Regional Medical Center as the rightful owner of the 4-acres just south of the library. The board unanimously approved transferring the money from the library’s foundation toward the purchase afters a years-long court battle.

“It was a long time ago when we first made that motion,” Board Member Suzanne Clark said.

Next, a committee of library and city officials will review statements of qualifications from architects due May 3. Requests for construction managers will follow shortly thereafter, Executive Director David Johnson said.

“Our goal is to have this team built all together so that whenever we sit down and begin discussions around the library everybody hears the same thing,” he said. “It’s not like a relay race where the architects do their job and they hand the baton off to the managers and the construction people and they might have to come back.”

Library officials also will stay in close contact with the city’s planning staff to make sure the expansion remains in line with city code, Johnson said.

A resolution establishing the city’s first right of refusal on the property has to pass the City Council, which should make the May 2 meeting agenda. The standard procedure essentially makes it so the library has dibs on the property before signing on the dotted line, Attorney Vincent Chadick said.

The library can then close on the property, possibly during its May 15 board meeting.

The board hopes to spruce up the old City Hospital area in the time between closing the deal and hiring a contractor to demolish the building. The library will be responsible for boarding up any windows, removing broken glass, clearing the brush and tree limbs up against the building and keeping the place safe.

“I think that’s something we should do, even to the point of outside signs that say we’re cleaning up this property and we’re securing it,” Board Member Maylon Rice said.

The board set aside $45,000 for security maintenance of the property to cover one year, but the actual amount needed won’t

be anywhere near that, said Sam Palmer, the library’s facilities director. Once the contractor is hired, that responsibility shifts.

Asbestos will have to be removed before demolition can happen. Bond proceeds will cover the abatement estimated somewhere between $200,000 to $400,000, Accounting Director Stephen Davis said.

The city will administer issuance of the bonds sometime this year to pay for the expansion. Once issued the city will have three years to spend the money and library officials will need to have some grip on initial spending, Johnson said.

Voters in August approved a millage increase to pay for about $26.5 million of a proposed $49 million expansion to effectively double the library’s size. The expansion will cross Rock Street and add a two-story children’s library, genealogy space, multipurpose room, a roof garden, expanded parking

and other features.

Heirs of the Stone family fought the $2 million sale from Washington Regional to the library, saying the family’s charitable intention when it donated the land to the city a century ago hadn’t been honored. Washington Regional gained possession of the land in a swap with the city to build a roundabout near the hospital.

Library officials hope to have a round of public input on the design starting in August. Minneapolis-based Meyer, Scherer and Rockcastle, whose Jeff Scherer served as the original library’s architect, designed renderings used during previous public input sessions leading up to the millage vote.

Construction on the expansion could begin late this year and finish by 2021, Johnson has said.