Library raising funds to expand parking lot
The Bella Vista Public Library Foundation is raising funds to expand the library’s parking lot.
Kacy Earnest Spears, spokesperson for the library, said the library has limited parking with around 30 spots available. Now that the library has added an expansion and has a conference room and a community room, more people are coming to the library at once.
“The larger of the two, the community room, can accommodate up to 75 people, and we don’t have the parking for that,” she said.
During the library’s summer reading program a performer was brought in, and the parking lot filled up, she said. Patrons had to park at the neighboring Bella Vista Baptist Church and walk down Dickens Place to the library.
Earnest Spears noted the library foundation owns the land and the building and was in charge of the expansion and is now handling the fundraising to expand the parking lot.
“They finished the expansion, we got it furnished, did some odds and ends, and then pretty quickly shifted focus to ‘We’re going to need a larger lot,’” she said.
A capital campaign is underway with $24,000 already raised and $17,000 remaining to be raised before work on the parking lot expansion can begin, she said. The lot will be expanded toward the woods. She said it is unknown at this time how many spaces will be added, as an engineer will have to look at the site and consider runoff and other factors.
Patrons may donate to the campaign by visiting the library and leaving cash or a check in an envelope marked for the Bella Vista Library Foundation.
In the meantime, the library staff is encouraging groups attending gatherings at the community room or conference room to carpool so there will be more parking spaces left for patrons wishing to visit the library to drop off books, visit the used bookstore or use other library services.
Community, conference room improvements
Earnest Spears also noted the community room and conference room recently had new fabric sound panels installed to improve sound quality.
“When the community room and conference room were built, they were very spacious and beautiful, but they were not built with group use in mind as far as sound,” she said.
The library foundation had the panels installed on the walls in both rooms as well as on the ceiling in the community room, which has a higher ceiling, she said.
“It makes for much easier discussion,” Earnest Spears said. “Previously it would echo and bounce around the room and you couldn’t hear yourself speak. It has made a complete difference in the way sound travels around that room.”