Library expansion rare ballot measure with no downside

Imagine a ballot measure that was straightforward and easy to understand, created jobs, improved an existing amenity, offered a 5-to-1 return on investment and cost absolutely zero additional tax dollars.

This isn’t a utopian fantasy. It’s the measure to expand Fort Collins’ main library, a rare initiative with no discernable downside, on the April 5 ballot.

For those of us somewhere else during the 1970s, voting on this issue is a bit puzzling. Back in the day, however, citizens wanted to protect downtown green space. So, in 1975, voters approved an ordinance that limits the footprint of buildings in what is now known as Library Park to 5 percent of the total park area.

That should have allowed for expansion of the 34,000-square-foot library as the patron population grew to more than a million a year. But over the intervening 35 years, the park has become home to a cluster of historic cabins, with parking and driveways, as well as a playground.

The current citizens’ initiative is asking voters to amend the 1975 ordinance to require 85 percent of Library Park’s area remain open space, allowing up to 15 percent to be used for structures.

The Poudre River Public Library District has the money set aside in a reserve fund to cover the $4.2 million projected cost of the 6,000-square-foot expansion and remodel. Studies show every $1 invested in libraries returns more than $5 to the community, so it would be money well spent.

The expansion plans make efficient use of the building’s cantilever design. The space under the second-floor overhang will be enclosed with masonry and glass to create more individual seating and group study areas. The new space will also bring the library into the 21st century with the latest technology as well as providing more community meeting areas and better access to the 3.3 million items in the collection. It will also allow some administrative functions to move into leased space elsewhere, a boost for the downtown real estate market.

Construction could start as soon as this fall and take between nine and 12 months to complete – a year of jobs in a still-struggling industry. And most of those 80 elm trees will remain standing.

The measure has been endorsed by the Fort Collins Chamber, the Downtown Business Association and the Downtown Development Authority. The city clerk stopped counting citizen signatures in support of it somewhere north of 5,000.

Vote yes on the library expansion. There’s no reason not to.