Buncombe County to maintain existing structure of library facilities
Black Mountain and Swannanoa branches to remain in current locations
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
November 3, 2021
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners voted, Nov. 2, to maintain the current library facilities structure, keeping the Black Mountain and Swannanoa branches in their existing locations. Photo by Fred McCormick
Library facilities in Buncombe County, including branches in Black Mountain and Swannanoa, will remain in their current locations, following a unanimous vote by county commissioners on Nov. 2.
The decision was based on community feedback in response to a proposal brought before elected officials last summer, which included a recommendation to close and consolidate the two Swannanoa Valley branches, allowing for the construction of a modern, centrally located facility.
Planning firm 720 Design was contracted by the county in 2019 and tasked with developing a Comprehensive Facilities Master plan, which included a Library Facilities Master Plan. The 15-year, $81 million proposal, presented to county commissioners in June, recommended relocating and expanding several branches within the county library system.
The consulting firm suggested replacing the facilities in Swannanoa and Black Mountain with a 20,000-square-foot regional hub in an undetermined location, at a cost of approximately $12.5 million. The plan faced resistance from the Town of Black Mountain, which owns the current 5,700-square-foot building that has housed the local library since 1968, before it was presented to county commissioners.
The Black Mountain Town Council first discussed the recommendation to close the branch on North Dougherty Street during a May 10 regular monthly meeting. At the time, Mayor Larry Harris stated he was “certainly not supportive of this plan,” while Councilmember Pam King, former president of the Friends of the Black Mountain Library Board of Directors, arranged a meeting with Buncombe County Library Director Jim Blanton.
The town council passed a resolution opposing the recommendation in a special call meeting three days after the initial discussion. The Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, in a May 18 email, asked county commissioners to consider the role of the current branches as “community anchors.”
The county paused the Library Facilities Master Plan process in early June, citing the community’s response to the proposal, and in July announced the library advisory board would host a series of public engagement sessions through October.
The July 20 meeting in the Black Mountain Library was attended by more than 100 local residents, the vast majority of whom expressed their support for the current location. Many of those who attended the session favored renovating the existing branches over relocation.
Ten similar sessions were held between July and September, Blanton told county commissioners on Tuesday, but as the spread of COVID-19 increased, they were shifted to a virtual format. The director asked the commission for guidance on how to move forward with the community input sessions, adding that he believed more in-person feedback was needed in the process.
“I think some of the proposals that have been put forward in the current library plan are just not supported in the community, in terms of closing some of these community libraries,” County Commission Chair Brownie Newman said. “So, I think we should give some predictability and clarity to these neighborhoods that have been really concerned about the potential closure of their libraries.”
Newman moved to direct the county manager to maintain the existing library facilities in their current locations.
“We want to encourage the exploration of opportunities to enhance the facilities and services at these locations,” Newman said in the motion. “While the direction is to focus, in the near-term, on maintaining and improving the libraries in their current locations, the commission is open to considering, in the future, new library projects on a case-by-case basis, if they have the support of the neighborhoods that are served by the existing libraries.”
Commissioner Terri Wells said the feedback received by the the board indicated the public clearly supports the current structure and local branches.
“It is clear that the libraries have so much meaning in our communities,” she said.
Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara advised county staff to prioritize accessibility, compliance with the American with Disabilities Act in existing branches, and any potential safety issues in the current facilities.
“That feels like a different category of urgency that we want to make sure we’re addressing,” she said.
The county should also begin coordinating with municipalities that own the facilities in which the libraries operate, including Oakley and Black Mountain, Wells added.
“I think it would be really good to reach out and start looking at how we can make improvements to those facilities,” she said. “We need to learn more about that.”
While some of the ideas presented in the proposal were valuable, Vice Chair Al Whitesides said, public input was overwhelmingly supportive of the current library structure.
“We heard loud and clear from the public how important it is to have our community libraries in Buncombe County,” Whitesides said. “That’s something I thank our constituents for, because that’s what we’re here for—to listen.”
The consultants reviewed data and numbers, according to Blanton, but that information does not provide a complete representation of the role of local branches.
“What gets lost in that is the intangible quality of the libraries, and what they really mean to people,” he said to the commissioners. “Those are just numbers on paper, but that doesn’t translate to what it means if you take library services out of a community.”