STEELE CREEK NEWS
Steele Creek
Library Association Endorses Land Bond
(October 4, 2007)
On November 6, Mecklenburg County voters will have an opportunity to
pass an important bond referendum for land purchases.
The
total $35.6 million bond includes $1.65 million to purchase land for
a new regional library in the Berewick area of Steele Creek. A
regional library would be about twice the size of the current Steele
Creek District Library.
Public Library of
Charlotte and Mecklenburg County staff are looking at several
properties around the planned Berewick Town Center, but selection of
a site is all very preliminary. The availability of the parcels, the
asking price, and the suitability are all up in the air at this
point, but if the land bond passes, they hope to purchase property
as soon as possible.
There is no timeline
for funding actual construction of a new library, but library staff
likely would request funding in Fiscal Year 2009.
The Steele Creek
Library Association has endorsed the land bonds and encourages all
Steele Creek residents to vote "Yes" for the Land Bonds.
Area residents formed
the Steele Creek Library Association in 1992 to encourage county
officials to locate a new library in the Steele Creek community. The
new Steele Creek Library opened in 1994 in temporary space in the
Steele Creek Commons Shopping Center.
The current 15,000
square foot library opened August 4, 2004. In just three years it
has become one of the busiest libraries in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg
system. (See Library Facts.)
Steele Creek
continues to attract new residents, and the Steele Creek Library
will soon become inadequate to meet the needs of the community. An
additional facility in the area will be needed in a few years.
Construction will be financed by a future bond, but no library can
be built without the land. Passage of this Land Bond will ensure
that land will be available once the time is right for a new
facility.
Doug Youngblood,
co-founder of the Library Association said, "As hard as we had to
fight to get a library to begin with, you will not get another or an
expansion without supporting bonds. All construction or capital
funds for Mecklenburg County, whether it is for the library,
schools, or parks, come from bond funds of some type. Without
supporting these bonds, there will not be another source of funding,
and the land for the library will not be purchased. This is the only
way to make a regional library happen in Steele Creek."
Please go to the
polls on November 6 and vote "Yes" for the land bonds. You may also
vote early at the Steele Creek Library and other sites across the
county. (See Early Voting
Begins October 22.)
Steele Creek Library Facts:
The Steele Creek Library is #6 in
circulation among 23 libraries, not including the Main Library.
Circulation from July 2005 to June 2006 was 295,043 and from
July 2006 to June 2007 it was 321,252--an increase of 26,203 in
one year.
The library was #4 in computer usage for the entire system from
July 2006 to June 2007 with 100,365 people using the computers.
Usage for the previous year was 86,337.
During the last reporting year:
Steele Creek library staff
answered 140,530 reference questions.
The library had 100 training and adult programs with 1,323
people attending.
An estimated 310,109 people came through the doors.
The number of children's programs was 723 with 22,747 children
and caregivers attending.
The teen librarian presented 52 programs with 612 teens
attending.
The library's turnover rate (number of times items are checked
out) is 5.63 which is above the system average.
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See also
Land Bonds to Help Lake Wylie
Water Quality. |