By John Tredrea, Special Writer
It would cost the average Hopewell Borough homeowner about $30 a year for 20 years if the borough goes through with a proposal to buy a new building for the town library, borough Councilman Schuyler Morehouse said at Monday night’s Borough Council meeting.
No action was taken by the council on the proposal, under which the borough would purchase the former Sun Bank building, at 64 E. Broad St., which is for sale. The listed sale price is $999,000.
The proposal to move the library from its current home in the center of town comes from the library’s board of trustees.
Woody Carsky-Wilson, of the library board, has said, “Our board of trustees has committed to a multi-year capital fundraising campaign with the goal of raising at least $1.2 million.
”This capital fund campaign will fund the move, renovations and an addition to the 64 E. Broad St. structure, resulting in an approximately 5,000 square foot library facility. The other key partners in this effort are the Friends of the Library and a Library Capital Fundraising Committee, composed of board officers and community members who will provide the leadership for the campaign.”
Anne Zeman, director of the borough library, has said: “The Karyn (former Sun Bank building) site is a great opportunity to keep the library on Broad Street and to meet the current and future needs of the community. Unlike the library we have now, a library there would have its own parking and be handicapped-accessible. It would provide adequate space for storage and operations. It would be consistent with the community’s size and anticipated future demands.”
During a discussion with Mr. Carsky-Wilson, Ms. Zeman and other library trustees, during the March 4 council meeting, Mayor Paul Anzano and council members said they needed to know how the town at large felt about the proposal before making a decision that would involve a bond issuance to pay for the library move.
To that end, the board of trustees held a well-publicized meeting at Hopewell Elementary School on April 21. About 50 residents attended. Most of the residents who spoke said they were opposed to the plan, due to the tax impact it would have.
During Monday night’s meeting, at which the borough’s 2014 budget was adopted, Mr. Morehouse noted that the budget includes the borough’s paying $121,000 in debt service. Noting that the proposed library expansion would be a capital project, he said that “capital projects will drive that number up.”
