The Moving of the Library

Today, Washington enjoys a beautiful library on the north end of Five Points Center, a move from a much smaller location.  To get to that point, however, library officials and citizens went through an arduous back-and-forth which could have led to a very different outcome.

For most of its early history, the Washington District Library resided at 301 Walnut Street, the current location of City Hall.  The library served Washington well for over fifty years (1950-2007) through expansions, renovations, and attempts to keep up with township growth.

By 1991, the library started to explore the possibility of relocating. It was becoming unfeasible to continue to serve the community adequately at the current location. The Library Board, due to prudence with taxpayer dollars over the years, had amassed some reserves in anticipation of improvements, expansions, or, in this case, a full relocation.

In 1993, the library purchased 4 acres across Business 24 from Cherry Tree Shopping Center for the potential construction of a new library. They had invested in a study that told them that if they were to relocate, they should merge the main library and the Sunnyland Branch into one. Library officials liked the location because it was on a main thoroughfare and more geographically centric to the township.

By 1997, plans were moving forward, but the library would need more money to make their vision a reality, so they went to the voters in November to ask for a tax hike to generate more revenue for the new construction.  Their request, which would have raised taxes $27 per year on a homeowner with a $100,000 assessed valuation and $1.25 million of the $2.25 million needed to construct the new library, was soundly defeated by a 70-30 margin.  It was a crushing blow.

The board had considered going back to the voters a year later with the same request but instead chose to gather information from the citizens.  They found that while some citizens did not like tax increases, the prevailing problem in this case was that people were not happy with the proposed location across from Cherry Tree Shopping Center.  At a November 1998 public hearing on the issue, over 20 people spoke on both sides of the issue.  It was contentious and raucous, but it showed a passion for the issue.

During that meeting, a citizens advisory committee was created to research the issue and submit a proposal for the new library's location.  In August 1999, that 18-member committee voted 17-1 to recommend that the library be built on Wilmor Road in conjunction with the new community center.

The library board was not happy with the results of that committee, as they had already invested in the land on Business 24.  They were also concerned about leasing land at the community center site instead of outright ownership of its own property.  In addition, they felt the geographic center of their purchased property was a great strength of that site.

Regardless of the board’s feelings, in March 2000 voters had a chance to approve a referendum including a $2.3 million bond as well as a tax hike to fund the construction of the library at the community center site on Wilmor Road.  The board agreed to take the site by Cherry Tree Shopping Center off the table and sell the property, but only if the referendum passed.  The inherent message to the voters from the board seemed to be to pass this referendum to get the library on Wilmor Road, or we are going back to the Cherry Tree location.

When the votes were tallied, both the bond issue and the tax hike were soundly defeated. Library officials were again somewhat surprised and went back to the drawing board. Library Board president Charles Brandt said at the time, “The feedback I've gotten is that there are quite a few people out there who would like a new library, but they don't want to pay for it.”

In September 2001, the Library released information that they were planning to proceed with constructing a new library across from Cherry Tree Shopping Center without the help of taxpayer dollars.  It was a perplexing decision, and it was reported that no official vote of library board members was taken.  Payment for the new facilities was to come from library coffers, including the savings earned from the closing of the Sunnyland Branch, a partial sale of the property the library was to be built on to the Blackstone Group with a giveback agreement of 1.5 acres for the proposed library, and other revenue streams.

In February 2002, Blackstone backed out of the deal, putting everything on hold. This left the Sunnyland Branch scrambling because they were set to end their lease in August 2002, under the assumption that the new library would be built. A new plan was needed in a hurry, so the solution was to go back to a previous option: the community center.

By the end of 2002, it was announced that the library would indeed be located on Wilmor Road in the new Washington Area Community Center, later renamed Five Points Washington. One condition of the agreement with the community center was that no referendums asking taxpayers for money to pay for the library be put on the ballot. Ground was broken on the center in 2003, and Five Points Washington, including the Washington District Library, held its grand opening on October 12, 2007.

Also, in 2007, the library sold the Business 24 property to brothers Lee and Paul Kinsinger.

The library does own its building at Five Points as well as some of the land just east of it extending into the parking lot for potential expansion.