Map courtesy of city of Vestavia Hills
Original plans called for an estimated 12,000-square-foot east side library at the Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex in Liberty Park, but city officials are debating if another library facility is still one of the highest priorities in the city and, if so, what kinds of programming and spaces it might contain.
The new Vestavia Hills City Council this week took time to discuss whether a library is still considered one of the most important needs in the eastern part of the city, meaning Liberty Park and/or Cahaba Heights.
The proposal that came forward from the previous City Council, before last year’s election, included spending a projected $9 million for a library facility at the Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex, with $2 million coming from donations and $7 million from borrowed funds.
New Councilwoman Ali Pilcher questioned whether that’s the most important need in the city right now.
“When we campaigned, you heard a lot of people talking about stormwater drainage. You heard a lot of people talking about girls sports facilities,” Pilcher said.
She thinks it’s worth asking people more directly where their priorities are, she said.
Matt Foley of the Williams Blackstock Architects firm that has been working with the city on potential library plans said the facility that is being talked about may better be described as a community resource center than a quiet place to read or check out a book. A modern library could include a lab for science, technology, engineering, arts and math programs, meeting spaces, small study spaces, or an auditorium for speakers and programs, Foley said.
Mayor Ashley Curry said he believes everyone agrees that there is a need for community meeting spaces for people on the east side of town, and he believes a little further study could help better determine the proper types of spaces to include in whatever building is built in that part of town.
Councilwoman Kimberly Cook said the city made a commitment when it changed the plan for Liberty Park to include apartments and higher-density commercial space to provide the proper infrastructure to handle the increased population. That meant not just paving and stormwater, but library services and ball fields, Cook said.
“This is where the residential growth is happening,” she said. “It’s not because (fellow Councilman) Rusty (Weaver) and I live there. It’s because that’s where the growth is happening. … We have to provide them services to keep the quality of life what it should be for every resident of our city. We want that throughout our city.”
Curry said the 1,200 new single-family homes coming to Liberty Park could generate 4,000 to 5,000 more residents, and if there’s a remote chance that another community building and event space is going to be needed, that’s the logical place to put it. Also, he’s not aware of any park and recreation programs or projects that would not take place if a library/community resource center is built, he said.
“We have the beauty in our city of being financially sound,” Curry said.
City Manager Jeff Downes said that a previous financial review determined that the city could handle $34.5 million worth of debt for projects in the Sicard Hollow area and stay within the city’s financial policy guidelines regarding debt. That included $14.7 million for a police operations building, $9.9 million for Liberty Park ballfield upgrades and contingencies, $7 million in city money for a library, $1.75 million for a maintenance facility, and $1.17 million for the realignment of the entrance to the Liberty Park baseball/softball complex on Sicard Hollow Road.
Borrowing $34.5 million likely would add $1.5 million to the city’s annual debt service, Downes said.
And because the city’s commitment to provide $1.2 million a year to the school system for capital projects ends this August, most of that extra money for debt service could come from money that had been dedicated to the schools for three years, making the $1.5 million in extra debt service much more palatable, Downes said.
The Fitch rating agency also took the potential increased debt into account when it recently affirmed the city’s AAA bond rating, he said.
Downes said he plans to bring the council a proposal at its Jan. 21 meeting to move forward with the first phase of a three-phase study regarding the need for a library/community resource center at Sicard Hollow.
The first phase, which is a feasibility study, would cost up to $7,500. The council then could determine whether to proceed with second phase that would include a review of potential programming and a conceptual design, at a cost of about $50,000. And then, if the council still agrees to move forward, it could consider do a third phase for about $7,500 that includes a campaign document that spells out the plan for fundraising purposes.
The whole process would be up to the City Council, and it could stop the process at any time if it so chooses, Downes said.
Downes also noted that previous surveys done by the city determined that 90% of residents citywide had a positive feeling about the quality of library services in the city, but only 60 to 70% of resident in Liberty Park and Cahaba Heights felt positive about library services.
Sixty to 70% of the residents surveyed in Liberty Park and 70 to 90% of residents in Cahaba Heights rated the expansion of library services as a priority, Downes said.
