Supervisor Rodney Thomas got a tour of Crozet Library from Wendy Saz.

Albemarle Supervisor Rodney Thomas got a tour of Crozet Library Oct. 15 from librarian Wendy Saz and said afterward in a meeting with Jefferson-Madison Regional Library Director John Halliday and other officials that the time has come to build the long-planned new facility.

Thirty-two people were in the library at the time, checking out books, using the public-access computers and reading with their young kids.

Halliday reminded Thomas about the independent report on the “total inadequacy” of the current library that J-MRL officials passed on to supervisors more than a year ago. The report called the parking lot dangerous, noted that the aisles inside do not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and that the building lacks safe fire evacuation routes. The report recommended that the library be closed. The Crozet branch is the only one in the regional system to increase circulation in the last year, Halliday noted.

“Our board cannot sit on this report,” Halliday explained to Thomas. “We hold off in hopes the county will move ahead. If it’s not, then we’ll have to act, which means shrinking the services offered here. We’ll take out books to widen the aisles.”

Halliday said J-MRL’s policy until now has been to work with the county and be prudent. The supervisors will hold preliminary discussions over priorities in the county’s upcoming budget during November and Halliday said the J-MRL board will decide in December what it should do, depending on what the supervisors do. “There is no way for us to ignore this,” said Halliday.

With comprehensive blueprints now available, library officials estimate the cost of building the new library at $6.2 million. Nearly $2 million has already been spent in design and road and parking lot development.

“If we had built last year, it would have saved us 40 percent [over earlier construction cost estimates],” said White Hall District Supervisor Ann Mallek. “We have missed the bottom. Now we can save only 20 percent, but, over $6 million, that’s still a lot.”

“If one more car goes over the wall out there we’ll regret not having built,” said Halliday, who noted that Waynesboro and Farmville are currently building new libraries.

“The sale is happening now and we are about to miss it,” said J-MRL board member Tim Tolson. “To be fiscally responsible, you build it now before the cost goes up.”

The cost figure does not include the estimated $1.6 million in private funds that western Albemarle citizens will have to raise to put furniture and books in the new building. The citizen committee formed to organize that effort has been waiting to see if the county intends to proceed with construction.

Saz said that if the new library is delayed too long, for a few more years, the plans for it may need to be revisited to see if they still meet projected needs.

Mallek reported that sales tax revenue to the county is up, but she expects real estate tax revenue to be lower because property appraisals are dropping as the housing market continues to decline. “The Crozet library is the only capital project the county has that is ready to go,” she said. Building it would also create a storage area on its lower level that the county could use to store items it is now paying $50,000 a year to keep in the former Comdial building, she argued.

“I agree, Ann,” said Thomas. “I really do. The situation with Crozet library was already an emergency when I came on the board.” Mallek expects that Samuel Miller District Supervisor Duane Snow, whose district borders the Crozet Growth Area along Rt. 250, also understands the need to proceed.

“It’s not an option to shut down Crozet library,” said Mallek.

“We wouldn’t do that,” Halliday reassured her.

Meanwhile a grassroots effort by area residents has emerged to press the necessity of the new facility. Jane Kulow and Kim Taylor, parents of school-age children, came before the Crozet Community Advisory Council Oct. 20 to present data about the situation to CCAC members, who generally urge starting construction as soon as possible.

Virginia Library Board recommendations say the median square foot requirement for library space is .8 square feet per capita, Kulow said. Albemarle County has adopted a .7 sq ft per capita standard. Given the 25,000 people in its western Albemarle service area, she pointed out, Crozet library comes in woefully under-sized at .069.

Expansion of a library is recommended when circulation reaches 15 books per foot of shelf space per year. Circulation at Crozet Library in 2010 calculates out to be 80 items per foot of shelf.

VLB recommendations say there should be 2 books per capita, she said. Thus, Crozet Library should have 50,000 books. In fact it has 33,000.

“Crozet Library has to get a rid of a book every time it gets a new one,” Kulow said.

The current library has 1,728 square feet, smaller than the average house size in the county, Kulow said.  The new building will contain 18,300 square feet on one level.

She also repeated the long-held contention that potential private investors in downtown Crozet are waiting to see if the county itself is committed to the revitalized future laid out for the historic center of town in the Crozet Master Plan.

County supervisors “have not heard enough from the community,” Kulow said, urging folks to attend supervisors’ budget planning meetings and make the case for the new library.

“Every county around Albemarle has built a new library during the 11 years Albemarle has been talking about building Crozet library,” said Tolson, who is also a CCAC member.

To learn more about the persuasion campaign, visit www.buildcrozetlibrary.org.