Plans in the Making for New Library
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Plans in the Making for New Library

The Dulles South regional area may be getting a new library. Van Metre Homes, developer of the Stone Ridge, Broadlands and Lansdowne communities, is awaiting an affirmative vote from the Board of Supervisors to go forward with a 40,000-square-foot library on Route 50 west of South Riding. The board will review Van Metre's Stone Ridge West rezoning application at its Nov. 15 meeting. Roy Barnett, Van Metre Homes senior vice president, said the company needs the zoning action approved before it continues design work and starts construction. If the board nods yes, Barnett said the company would start construction late summer or early fall 2006 and complete the building by late 2007, anticipating opening sometime spring 2008. Douglas Henderson, Loudoun County director of library services, said the department put a request in the Capital Improvements Program (CIP) for a Dulles South regional library three years ago. But the plan Van Metre has proposed Ñ to build the shell of the library within an 80,000-square-foot, mixed-use office building Ñ means the community will have the library sooner and at a fraction of the cost. The library in the CIP was originally supposed to sit on a 7.2-acre plot of land proffered to the county in 1995. The developer proposes instead to build a mixed-use library/office building diagonally from that space at the corner of Millstream Road and Stone Spring Boulevard and add 6 acres to another proffered site that is currently planned for the new Arcola Elementary School.

Barnett said the zoning request would allow those changes to happen. The 7.2-acre site, he said, would probably be used for a sit-down restaurant, retail or multi-family housing. "It's a better location for office and library. It fits better into the overall master plan," Henderson said.

The question that bears answering, Henderson said, is whether the board will accept only opening one of the floors or the whole 40,000-square-foot library. In the short run, it'll be less expensive to open only one floor, but there's a big push to do the whole thing now because it's more cost effective, he said.

"If you can afford to do it at one time it makes more sense, with costs going up every year," Henderson said.

Projected costs for the project are soft, given all the various things that could happen between now and when the board gives the green light on the project, which could be Nov. 15 or years from now. However, it would cost the county approximately $12 million just to build the library. Furnishing, staffing and buying the collection would come at an additional cost, Henderson said. Doing it Van Metre's way, trading spaces with the county and constructing the shell of an 80,000-square-foot, mixed-used office building valued at $8 million across the street will cost the county an estimated $9 million Ñ to finish interior construction, furnish and buy the collection. Henderson estimated about $4 million to do the same with the 20,000-square-foot library but he added that the $4 million estimate is 2 years old and has probably risen due to inflation.

COUNTY GROWTH projections make a good argument for going forward with the 40,000-square-foot library.

"If the library gets built in the proposed time frame we'll be caught up for one day. And then three more people will move in," he said.

Ashburn Library is the closest library to residents in the Dulles South region and it has quickly become the library in Loudoun County with the highest circulation, said Karen Montgomery, Library Board of Trustee member. At the Library Board's Oct. 25 meeting, Margaret Kositch, a reference librarian at Ashburn Library, said the library was up to serving 42,000 patrons a month and that there were 17 percent more check-outs than this time last year. During the summer, the library even hit the fire-occupancy level a couple of times, she said. At least 6,000 people attended summer reading programs. John Huddy, Ashburn Library branch manager, agreed that a new library is going to be a necessity in the future.

"It's not at a crisis point right now but with the current growth rates, that will help a lot," he said.

Although a library is planned for in the CIP, it's unclear how long it would take the county to get around to building it. Currently only shelving, staffing and monies for the collection are planned for in the budget, Montgomery said.

"The CIP budget does not include monies to build a public library for several years and we see this as a benefit to whole Dulles South region and our community," Henderson said. "We would rather see the library sooner rather than later."

Montgomery said the project is a win-win situation for the county and the developer. The county gets a library sooner and cheaper and the developer gets a library into its community making it more appealing to new home owners and people looking to move into the area, she said.

"It's great when a company like Van Metre does something like this. If you live in this area you know what the growing pains are like," she said. "If we wait for the county, it'll be a few years before the library is built. So everyone's counting on the arrangement with Van Metre."

Funding for the library project will likely be general obligation bonds and need to be voted for by referendum if the board moves to send the project to referendum next August.

EVEN THOUGH the application has not yet been fully approved, Barnett said the company has consulted with an architect and done considerable research on buildings across the country where there's integrated use. The proposed Dulles South Regional Library will be located on the bottom two floors of the 80,000-square-foot building; the top two floors would be used for office space.

He said the concept has been done successfully in numerous cities. For example, he said, in Portland, Ore., there are residential units over the library. The proposed building will be located right at the Stone Ridge community entrance with the back of the building facing Route 50.

"The building will back up to a regional pond that we have there. People will be able to sit on the back patio and look out onto the pond, different species of plant life and walking trails," he said. "It's not hidden back in the back somewhere so it's very easily defined and very easily accessed by all the residents in the Dulles South area."

Barnett said the company prides itself on creating places for people where they can live, work and play.

"A lot of people ask, what's in it for the development? It's really a partnership. We see it as a huge amenity for the community, but it's also a huge amenity for the whole region," he said.