Frederick residents continue calls for west side library

Jan. 25—Most of the roughly 30 Frederick residents who spoke during a town hall meeting Wednesday called for the county to continue with plans for a library branch on the west side of the city.

Residents said they want the library at Westside Regional Park, behind Butterfly Ridge Elementary School. The branch would serve the communities that live along and near the Golden Mile (U.S. 40) and Ballenger Creek.

Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater said the county is "unequivocally" committed to ensuring the library is built at Westside Regional Park. The county's library staff members, she said, are "fully supportive" of the new Frederick branch being a top priority in the capital projects budget.

Wednesday was the fourth town hall meeting in recent weeks that Fitzwater, D, has held to hear people's concerns and priorities for the county's next budget. She is hosting a meeting in each of the county's five County Council districts.

The fifth town hall meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Catoctin High School in Thurmont. The meeting will be in District 5, which covers the northern part of the county, including Walkersville, Woodsboro, Thurmont and Emmitsburg.

Wednesday's meeting was at Waverley Elementary School in County Council District 3, which covers the western half of Frederick.

It's the county's smallest geographical district but its second-most populous, District 3 Councilwoman M.C. Keegan-Ayer, D, said during the meeting.

It's also the only council district without a library branch.

The downtown C. Burr Artz Public Library, one of nine branches in the county, serves Frederick residents. But, the location can be difficult to get to for families who live on the west side and don't have a car.

Martha Ruiz, a Frederick resident and a program director for the county's Family Partnership, said the county should still consider the transportation hurdles people may face with a library on the west side of the city. A TransIT route to help people get to the new branch could make it accessible for those without a car, she said.

Residents also called for the county to include budget funding for local nonprofit organizations, a pedestrian bridge across U.S. 40 and shelters at city bus stops.

"We will continue to span the gap for these citizens in District 3," said Aje Hill, founder and executive director of the local mentorship organization I Believe in Me. "With that, we will need help with funding and resources to continue to be able to advocate and be a positive voice for this wonderful district."

In a joint letter, several organizations and community leaders called on Fitzwater to advance construction of the library using a portion of the $48 million in higher-than-expected revenue and budget savings the county accrued last fiscal year.

The additional $48 million in fund balance, which is about $20 million more than what the county expected, has been allocated for the county's next budget.

"The county must make long overdue public investments in communities and families that have historically not been proportionately included in the county's overall operation," the letter reads.

The Association of Nigerians in Frederick, the Frederick County Branch of the NAACP and the Resources for Immigrant Support and Empowerment (RISE) Coalition of Western Maryland signed the letter.

The organizations also called on the county to ensure that "the construction contract dollars proportionately include ethnic minorities" and that "the actual operation of the library reflects racial and ethnic diversity at all staff levels."

In a community meeting in November, Frederick residents said they want the library to be at Westside Regional Park, rather than at Prospect Center, a large building on Himes Avenue that the county purchased in 2021.

Former County Executive Jan Gardner, D, said in November that building the branch at Westside Regional Park could take up to five years. If the city government contributed $3.6 million to help the county pay for the construction of a new building and parking lot, the library could be open sooner, she said.

The organizations that signed the letter called on the county to fund that $3.6 million, meaning the city government wouldn't have to.

Without the funding, the county could build the library at Westside Regional Park and, while it's being built, have a temporary "pop-up library" at Prospect Center, Gardner said in November.

If the county builds the library at the Prospect Center, it could be open in 2025, Gardner said.

The Prospect Center is a 209,000-square-foot facility the county purchased after leasing it for a mass COVID-19 vaccination site. Gardner planned for the building to be used for more than just the library, including relocating county offices and the 911 call center, and building a senior center.

Fitzwater is expected to present her proposed budget to the County Council in April.

The council is scheduled to vote whether to adopt her proposed budget by May 31.

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