Lewes residents call library’s $1 million request steep

In Lewes, residents are questioning what financial burden, and benefit, the new Lewes Public Library might be to the city.

The library has asked the city to contribute about $1 million to the new building, in addition to the roughly $1 million already spent on land the building will sit on.

Additionally, the lib­rary would like the city to continue to help pay for utilities, as has been the case in the past, which would cost about $40,000 a year.

A committee formed to consider the financial requests held a public workshop Jan. 6 to hear concerns and ideas from Lewes residents about the proposed contributions and the future of the old library, which is owned by the city.

A study could be conducted to see what new economic activity the new, larger library could bring to downtown businesses, one resident remarked. Others commented on how the city had already paid enough for a library will likely be used by people outside of Lewes.

“I’m not sure that we’re not being asked to pay more than our fair share,” resident Kim Ayvasian said.

While people living inside the city pay city taxes, visitors and neighbors have no such commitment, she said. Library Board member Hugh Leahy also spoke during the meeting, telling committee members that more than 90 percent of funding for the $10.9 million project will come from outside of town, from sources such as major donors and the Delaware Division of Libraries.

“The bottom line for me is, this really is a town asset,” Leahy said. “I would just ask that we all bear that in mind as we think about the win-win we all worked so hard to forge.”

But others argued that the library was built for the growing size of the region, not the size of Lewes.

“This additional public building should have been appropriate to our needs,” resident Frankie Bradshaw said. “Such an expense, and city-scape change, should have in the best case yielded a celebrated addition which almost everyone is excited to see completed. And up to this point, that’s not the case.”

If funds are going to be freed up by the city, through the selling of assets such as land, they could be put to better use, Bradshaw said. The city could contribute more to its fire department or improve stormwater capabilities, she said — the old building could even be turned into a science and arts center, which could host a climate change adaptation outreach.

Another resident, Barry Wise, suggested the old library could become at least partially a music venue so concerts that are held at Stango Park in the summer could continue into the winter months.

“Losing that building as a public building with public access would be a major blowout to the city,” Wise said.

The city is currently in a difficult position regarding the old building, committee chair and Deputy Mayor Fred Beaufait said. Once the new library is complete the city will need to sell or find a use for the old building, possibly continuing to pay for utilities, which are currently about $47,000 a year.

Seeing that challenge, the committee decided to suggest to the city council that ownership of the land the new library sits be in the name of the library, not the city. The decision was made in a committee meeting held Jan. 7, the morning after the public hearing.

“We didn’t feel like we should saddle the city with the same problem 20, 30 years down the road,” Beaufait said.

rpacella@dmg.gannett.com

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