Public Offers Opinions on Stone Harbor Library Locations

STONE HARBOR – A standing room only crowd came to see three proposed locations for a county library branch here and offer their opinions on the sites at a Wed., April 18 Borough Council meeting.
The Stone Harbor Library Location Committee has identified three sites. The committee met in January, twice in February and once in March to identify potential locations for the library.
Seven borough-owned properties were considered and the committee determined that three warranted consideration by the county.
The three locations:
• 95th Street and the beach. Zoned for public use with an assessed value of $6.7 million on the land. Market value is estimated at $6.9 million if rezoned residential. Currently used for public parking and owned by the borough. A CAFRA permit has already been obtained for this location. No debt on property.
• 120 97th Street (recreational area at Seng Place). Currently zoned for public use with an assessed value of $9.9 million on the land. Market value is estimated to be $12 million if rezoned for 10 buildable lots. Currently used for recreation, including basketball, shuffleboard, tennis, and playground and owned by the borough. The recreation courts would remain. The property may require a CAFRA permit. The borough spent about $285,000 in 2010-2011 for existing upgrades to the property which will not be paid off for 10 years.
• 9301 Second Avenue (Hand lots). Currently zoned as business district with an assessed value of approximately $4.6 million on four lots combined with a current market value of about $3 million. Currently vacant land. It was previously used as two residential lots. A CAFRA permit would not be required for this property.
Councilwoman Joselyn Rich, chair of the location committee, said the “design would be friendly to the neighborhood.”
The criteria for the locations included accessibility, availability, adjacent uses, environmental concerns, on site and off site parking, infrastructure upgrade requirements, and constraints on building design resulting from size and property shape.
Mayor Suzanne Walters said the issue could not go to a public vote.
“There is no mechanism to allow property owners to vote if they are not full time residents of Stone Harbor,” she said.
Cape May County Architectural Assistant Ann Marie McMahon said significant changes have been made to the buildings. The first and second buildings were designed for a beachfront site at 95th Street.
McMahon said concerns for the beachfront site included loss of parking, view of beach blocked for nearby condo owners and loss of sunshine on beach from library’s shadow. She said the second design with a stone bases and vinyl siding better fit the neighborhood.
The design includes restrooms accessed from the exterior of the library.
McMahon showed a sun study that indicated the library would not shade the beach. She showed a computer-generated image of a simulated view from a neighboring first floor condo that showed the library would not block a beach view.
The beach view was blocked by an existing public works building on the 95th Street lot, said McMahon.
One proposal called for moving the library back on the 97th Street site towards Seng Place. McMahon said that overpowered the surrounding buildings.
She said she pulled the building forward on the design which allowed 23 parking spaces, keeping one tennis, one basketball court and the playground. The building would remain the same size.
Borough Administrator Jill Gouger said the building could be scaled back but the county could not totally redesign a new building due to the cost involved. She said the design and engineering for the two optional sites would require the county to “start from scratch.”
In scaling back the building, it must be decided how much space the public is willing to lose such as giving up a meeting room or exhibit space, said McMahon. She said the library was designed as a beachfront building.
She said the current library design was totally disproportioned to the Second Avenue site. Adjacent houses would be overpowered by the building. She said the only positive aspect on Second Avenue was not needing a CAFRA permit.
The library measures 13,578 square feet or about 6,700 square feet on each of two floors.
McMahon said the first floor is meeting rooms and museum exhibit space.
During public comment, resident Louis Schwekhardt said he had not heard a description of any value added by moving the library from the beachfront to the two alternative sites. He said the Second Avenue site was initially rejected.
Resident Jeff Raffel said earlier in his life he had authored articles on library location. He said the “idealized vision of the library on the beach is out of date” in the digital world.
The concept of tourists traveling to Stone Harbor to look out over the ocean as they read books is “very 1990s,” he said. Raffel pointed out that “Border’s Books is out of business and Barnes and Noble is on the verge of bankruptcy, small bookstores are going out of business and I bet the majority of people in this room own Kindles (e-readers) or iPads.”
He said a library would be more of place for community meetings than a place to keep books and DVDs.
Raffel suggested building the library on the Second Avenue site. He said the location of the library would have a negative impact on tax revenue and property values if the building restricts ocean views of condo owners.
Resident Bernadette Parzych asked if it was an option to build a one-story library. She said the 97th Street-Seng Place site, was a “beautiful little oasis in the middle of a very busy area.”
Resident John Ready asked while the borough would turn over the Second Avenue-Hand lot, a $4 million property to the county library system when it could be turned to cash or a ratable producing property.
“We’ve had three years of tax increases and we’re sitting on properties that we could convert into cash if we wanted to,” he said.
Ready said it was unlikely the beachfront site would ever be sold for houses to be built upon it. He called it the most expensive parking lot at the shore, which is only used about 60 days of the year.
Resident Ann Nugent said the proposed building was designed for the beachfront “and should go there.”
A resident of Garden House Condominiums 151-153 95th Street, said residents of the homeowner’s association opposed building the library on the 95th Street site. He said the primary activity in Stone Harbor was going to the beach which required maximum access and parking.
He said that was critical to the borough’s economy.
County officials confirmed a reduction of the square footage in order to accommodate the other two lots was possible and they will present updated renderings with different sizes of buildings at the second public hearing, scheduled for Sat., April 28 at 10 a.m. at the Stone Harbor Elementary School.
Walters said the Library Location Committee would make a formal recommendation to Borough Council, and it will be a vote by council that decides the final location for the library. That decision is expected at the July 3 council meeting.
The public may offer suggestions to Borough Administrator Jill Gougher by email at gougherj@stone-harbor.nj.us or by calling her office at (609) 368-6811. Updates will continue to be offered on the Borough’s website at www.stone-harbor.nj.us and via email from the administrator’s office.