Community can share input Thursday on location for Howard's newest library

Mar. 19—By Sherry Greenfield — sgreenfield@baltsun.com

March 19, 2024 at 6:00 a.m.

The final of four public meetings meant to gain public input on the location of Howard County's newest public library is set for Thursday. County officials will join representatives of Arcadis, project manager and design consultants, for the Zoom meeting starting at 6 p.m.

The county held three in-person community meetings on the estimated $144 million new Central Branch Library, beginning in late February.

With Gov. Wes Moore by his side, Howard County Executive Calvin Ball announced plans in March 2023 for the new library, which he envisioned along the Columbia lakefront. Ball said at the time that the 100,000-square-foot library was intended to "foster creativity, learning, and civic engagement."

In May, the Howard County Council approved $5 million for the conceptual design of the lakefront library and another $5 million for the project was placed in a special contingency fund. The approval was part of the $2.16 billion operating budget and a $419.1 million capital improvement program for fiscal 2024, which started last July.

But the proposal received pushback from residents and some officials who were concerned about the hefty price tag, the bidding process, and whether the county even needs a new library.

The library was to be built at the Kittamaqundi lakefront, on land provided by The Howard Hughes Corp., a Texas-based real estate developer. But in recent months county officials have proposed other possible sites, including the existing Central Library location on Little Patuxent Parkway, the former Lord & Taylor department store at The Mall in Columbia, and the Merriweather District in Columbia, in addition to two sites in the Lakefront District.

"The County Council approved planning funds in the FY24 budget so that the county could undergo a community engagement process regarding the future plans for a new Downtown Columbia library," Safa Hira, director of communications with the county's Office of Public Information, said. "Howard County then thought it prudent to use the community engagement opportunity to gather community feedback on all viable options."

Following Thursday's virtual meeting, Arcadis will study public input and Ball and the County Council will be briefed on the company's findings at a public meeting, Hira said.

Residents can also fill out an online survey asking questions such as how many times they visit a public library, which Howard County library branch have they visited in the past six months, and what library services do they use.

"As of [Monday morning], we have more than 1,000 responses to the survey," Hira stated in an email. "We know that our community values libraries as important places of learning, growing and gatherings. The feedback we are receiving will help us determine the best action forward, that will bring our community the most benefit for generations to come."

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