Packed meeting favors current Black Mountain Library location

More than 100 attend Library Facilities Master Plan feedback session

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
July 27, 2021

A July 20 feedback session on the Buncombe County Library Facilities Master Plan at the Black Mountain Library was attended by more than 100 people. Photo courtesy of Friends of the Black Mountain Library

A crowd of more than 100 people filled the education room of the Black Mountain Library, July 20, to give feedback on the proposed Buncombe County Public Library Facilities Master Plan, after the process was paused by county commissioners in June. 

The proposal, which recommends closing existing branches in Swannanoa and Black Mountain and combining them into a modern, 20,000-square-foot regional library, central to both communities, was met with opposition from town leaders, the chamber of commerce and supporters of the Black Mountain branch. Many of them voiced their concerns to members of the Buncombe County Library Advisory Board during the meeting. 

The county hired planning firm 720 Design to create a Comprehensive Facilities Plan, which includes the Library Facilities Master Plan, in 2019. Research conducted for the project gathered public input from 13 focus groups and an online survey that received over 1,400 responses. The proposal that was recommended by the library advisory board and presented to county commissioners in May included an overhaul of the organizational structure of the facilities. 

The 15-year, $81 million plan calls for the relocation and expansion of Pack Library, with a recommendation for a 65,000-square-foot “main library” and parking garage. The consultants also encouraged the county to explore affordable housing opportunities on the facility’s new site. Supporting the main library would be six regional libraries and vending locker services, replacing the 10 current branches in the system. 

Successfully completing the plan would require the county library system to acquire property central to Black Mountain and Swannanoa and construct a $12.5 million regional facility and close two of its smallest branches that currently operate in leased buildings. 

The Black Mountain Library has operated in the 5,700-square-foot building on North Dougherty Street, near downtown, since 1968. The structure is owned by the Town of Black Mountain, which learned about the recommendation to close the branch in a May 10 meeting. Town attorney Ron Sneed, who serves on the town’s library board, brought the proposal to the attention of the town council and expressed his personal concern that the branch functions as a “community center.” 

A resolution urging county commissioners to vote against the library facilities master plan as presented was passed unanimously by the Black Mountain Town Council on May 13. Five days later, the Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors submitted an email encouraging the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners to consider the larger impact that local library branches have on their respective communities. 

Councilmember Pam King, who served on the Friends of the Black Mountain Library Board of Directors for three years prior to her time on the town council, was among those who attended the feedback session. 

“I was pleased to see the turnout for this meeting, and it really shows that we have a lot of people in this community who care about our library,” said King, who remains active with the Friends of the Black Mountain Library after serving on the board. 

The one-hour feedback session, led by county library advisory board chair Ruth O’Donnell, was intended to gather input on the recommended regional library structure and the proposed facilities master plan. The meeting in Black Mountain was the second of 20 meetings scheduled at various locations throughout the county after the planning process was paused, June 4. The feedback collected at the sessions will be reported to the county commissioners by the library advisory board this fall, according to the county. 

The meetings begin with a brief introduction and review of the consultant’s recommendations. Attendees are asked to share whether they are in favor of the proposed regional organizational structure, and then provide feedback on the overall facility plan. At the conclusion of the meeting, attendees are asked to place stickers on the comments that they felt were most impactful and representative.

King is encouraged by the county’s effort to address its library facilities, but has concerns with the planning process. 

“I’m a big fan of libraries, and I love bells, whistles, big libraries and fancy technology and all of that,” she said. “But in this case, I feel like location overrides a lot of that. Location is paramount here, and closing this branch would be like ripping the heart out of Black Mountain.”

While King acknowledges the need to expand the library, she believes there is enough property in its current location to accommodate a larger facility and additional parking. 

Members of the Friends of the Black Mountain Library, a nonprofit organization formed in 1963 to build and later expand the library, agree with King. Supporters of the current location launched a “Renovate Don’t Relocate” campaign in May. 

Kathy Phillips, who serves as treasurer on the Friends of the Black Mountain Library board, felt the listening session was structured to omit important feedback. 

“The county’s website billed it as a ‘listening session,’” she said. “However, they only had two questions that you could give short answers to. No comments were accepted, which was frustrating for many people.”

A regional model for the library system is being presented as a “one size fits all” approach, Phillips added. 

“It doesn’t take into account differing towns, neighborhoods and geography,” she said. “Black Mountain has had a library downtown for 100 years, this is our 100th anniversary. The library is an anchor in the community; it’s a destination that draws people from surrounding communities who come to eat, play and shop in town while visiting the library.”

The plan’s implication that a regional model would enhance services for communities in the county is not supported, according to Charlotte McRanie, a regular patron of the local library for more than a decade. 

“The report and recommendation for the new regional library structure does not really seem to focus on evaluating the adequacy of types of services provided today by the location, versus services that could be provided under this new structure,” she said. “Instead it seems to be a facility-focused analysis.”

Local libraries like the one in Black Mountain fill a much different role than regional facilities in densely populated areas, McRanie continued.

“There were a number of references to much larger metropolitan areas, such as Dallas and Chicago, when discussing references for this type of regional structure,” she said. “These are areas with populations significantly larger than Buncombe County will conceivably be over the next 20 - 30 years.”

Current Friends of the Black Mountain Library President Renee Hudson is concerned that moving the branch out of downtown would lead to a decrease in community support. 

“The Friends of the Black Mountain Library has 15 business sponsors, 115 average volunteer hours per month and has raised $55,400 in the last three years,” she said. “Several Friends of the Library volunteers have said they would probably not volunteer if the library is moved out of town.”  

Hudson pointed to a book sale hosted by the library in June as an example of its role in the community. 

“Patrons arrived on foot and by bike with their families and it became a community gathering. This enhances the quality of life in a town. I think the regional hub would not provide such opportunities,” she said. “The FOL supports improvements and additions to our current facility and would like to see renovations provide many features included in the facility plan proposed by the consultants, particularly accessibility in the building.”

Mary Standaert, a resident of Montreat who attended the library session, expressed her support for a regional facility to serve the entire Swannanoa Valley in an email to the county commissioners. 

While the Black Mountain Library is walkable for those who live nearby, Standaert said, a location near Owen Middle and Owen High Schools would be accessible to both communities and provide access to technology that many students can not afford. 

Buncombe County Library Director Jim Blanton was encouraged by the turnout for the meeting, and said the feedback received was critical to informing the future of the Black Mountain Library and the county library system. 

“It’s clear that the community is passionate about the library, and many thoughtful comments were offered about the facility recommendations,” he said. 

The next feedback session will take place from 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 5, at the Broad River Community Center. Residents of the community in the southeast corner of the county are served by the Black Mountain branch. The final session will take place at the Bee Tree Fire Department in Swannanoa from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 7. A complete listing of the meetings and a link to the facilities master plan can be found on the Buncombe County Library Master Plan Feedback page.