SNOW HILL – Library officials are evaluating property offered by the City of Pocomoke as a potential site for a new facility.
The Worcester County Commissioners last week approved library plans to consider accepting a piece of property near the Discovery Center and to hire an architect to do a preliminary design of a shared facility that would serve as a library and senior center. The commissioners said they supported the concept of a shared facility and praised the potential location.
“I think it’d be really great to have it in that area,” Commissioner Diana Purnell said.
Worcester County Library Director Jennifer Ranck told the commissioners that the Pocomoke branch, at 6,700 square feet, was the smallest facility in the library system. It was built in 1970 and benefitted from an addition in 2004. Nevertheless, a 2013 facilities study showed that behind Berlin, it was the branch most in need of improvements.
Two building schemes were developed early last year.
“We came back with two proposals, one at 2,500 square feet and one at 4,000 square feet,” she said.
Cost estimates, however, revealed that either option would come at a price of more than $5 million.
“At that point we took a step back,” Ranck said. “We hit the pause button last spring and thought about how should we move forward with this project—what can we do that’s the most cost effective.”
She said it was then that officials began considering a completely new building.
“Last month the City of Pocomoke sent a letter to county administration offering some parcels kind of behind the Discovery Center across from the Sturgis schoolhouse museum in downtown Pocomoke,” she said. “That seemed exciting to us.”
Ranck said she recommended moving forward with a site study, including environmental testing, of the property offered by Pocomoke. She also proposed engaging Jeff Schoellkopf to complete preliminary design concepts of a shared facility that would include roughly 11,000 square feet for a library and 4,000 square feet for a senior center. She said shared facilities were being created elsewhere.
“It’s certainly been done in other libraries across the state,” she said.
Commissioners Josh Nordstrom made a motion to move forward with the library’s recommendations.
“We looked at a few different sites this summer,” he said. “This looked like it had the most potential for a new library or a new library coupled with senior center.”
Commissioner Chip Bertino suggested the library also explore the possibility of sharing a facility with the Worcester County Health Department.
“I like the idea of partnering with other agencies,” he said.
Ranck said that possibility could be considered and said it made sense for agencies to partner so they could share things like parking and public restrooms.
Nordstrom, whose motion passed unanimously, said that if a new branch was built near the Discovery Center it would help revitalize the area.
“We’d like to see more facilities, more businesses come in,” he said. “It’s just the perfect spot for it.”
The commissioners last Tuesday also accepted a $46,543 bid from Value Carpet One for replacement of the carpet at the Worcester County Library’s Ocean Pines branch. Ranck said the branch would likely be closed briefly at the end of December and beginning of January.
“What we plan to do is close the main library for five or six days,” she said. “We’ll create sort of a mini library in the large meeting room so we can set up some computers, people can pick up their holds, that sort of thing.”
