Article published June 29, 2006
Board opts to expand parking for Bowling Green library
Trustees to consider family’s gift of house
By JENNIFER FEEHAN
BLADE STAFF WRITER
BOWLING GREEN — After a year of controversy, the Wood County District Public Library decided yesterday to turn land at the corner of North Church and West Court streets into a surface parking lot.
Before voting to buy the lot and hire a design firm, though, trustees decided they needed more time to think over the gift of the red brick house next door to the proposed lot. The family of Robert and Patricia Maurer recently offered to buy the brick house from the library for $150,000, then give it back to the library to use “for library purposes and for other uses which will benefit the entire community.”
Just last summer, library trustees bought the home and three adjacent parcels for $250,000 but excavated the parcel along the south side of the house for part of the proposed parking lot.
“It’s a very generous gift, but with the expenses we have, I don’t feel we can accept it right now,” Trustee Anna Griffith said.
She said the library’s most pressing need is providing more parking for patrons, especially those who live outside Bowling Green, while several other big expenses are on the horizon: a new bookmobile and a new roof and carpeting at the Walbridge library branch.
Board member Brian Paskvan said proceeds from the gift purchase would be used for renovations on the house, but some board members wondered exactly what renovation work needed to be done, what it would cost, and how the library planned to cover ongoing house expenses, including utilities and maintenance.
“We’re talking about accepting a gift before we know the cost or what it entails,” Sharon Hanna said.
Board President Scott McEwen said he believed the property could be self-sustaining if the board rented out two to three apartments inside and — after asking community groups, individuals, and contractors to help renovate it — rent out meeting space on the first floor.
He estimated the library would need to spend $50,000 to $75,000 to convert the upstairs into apartments, each of which could be rented for about $400 a month.
When Mr. McEwen suggested that the board form a subcommittee to figure out how the property could be used, Ms. Griffith replied, “Shouldn’t we do that before we accept it?”
Complicating yesterday’s discussion was a written offer on the brick house for $125,000 that was delivered earlier in the morning by Lori Hoorman of Waterville. Trustees, three of whom had never been inside the house, ultimately tabled any action on the Maurers’ gift. They took a walk through the house following yesterday’s meeting.
Joyce Kepke, a former South Church Street resident who attended the meeting, was pleased to see trustees exercising caution.
“I was glad they are taking time to evaluate the financial aspects of it and discuss whether they want to have two to three apartments in there,” she said. “I think people need to know that’s what they’re planning to do.”
The board was far more definitive about its plans for the controversial parking lot.
After a brief executive session, trustees voted unanimously to exercise their option with Mr. Maurer to purchase the now-vacant lot just west of the library for $150,000. The board also agreed to hire Poggemeyer Design Group of Bowling Green to create design plans for the lot.
“It’s been a year and I think we need to move ahead,” board member Jane Robb said.
Mr. McEwen said after the meeting that the library would reimburse Mr. Maurer for the cost of demolishing the house that once sat on the lot and excavating the sand hill. Neither he nor Elaine Paulette, director of the library, knew what those costs were, though.
Mr. McEwen told the board about ideas proposed by neighbors concerned that replacing old homes with asphalt, including an above-ground or underground parking garage and a shuttle from an off-site parking lot, would be cost-prohibitive.
Contact Jennifer Feehan at jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-353-5972.
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