By Glenn Nelles In my original rant to the Peak editor a year or more ago my sole interest was to express my opinion that what this town needed was a new library.
Subsequently, those interested in developing the old arena site came out in force, with visions of commercial undertakings, condos and who knows what else, on a waterfront property zoned Parks and playing fields. All this did was muddy the waters, and for a while I wasn’t sure what to think about it, except that I didn’t like it.
Rather than see prime waterfront property developed and closed off to public use, along with many other residents I swerved toward the idea of putting the library on that property, and after much consideration and public input City of Powell River council eventually chose the property for the new library site.
That choice, having had time to jell with the populace, has brought forth some criticism. One published opinion was that the new library should be grafted onto the aging city hall; a notion that any builder will tell you makes little sense, since joining a new facility to an aging structure causes far more problems than constructing a new building.
My understanding of how libraries serve a city begins with accessibility. If you cannot easily make your way to it, then what is the point of it being there? Paul Nassichuk asked, in a recent letter to the editor, why the library should be located at the bottom of a hill. If you look at it that way, the arena site is rather isolated from the residential area of the city and involves a considerable amount of navigation of a busy crossroad and a long hill, both with poor traffic visibility and inherent dangers for pedestrians. There are plans to change that intersection, but it will not remove the hill or make driving down there much easier.
All this considered, the former arena site emerges as possibly the worst choice of all. A beautiful building there would be as pretty as a postcard, but does it really make sense?
With an aging population, we should consider placing the library where it will be easy to access, and what more central location is there but the property next door to the Powell River RCMP station? There are apartments nearby, a large commercial area drawing shoppers, and it is smack-dab in the centre of the main residential area of Westview. It is on flat ground and is approached from three directions on flat ground.
This idea leaves the old arena site undeveloped. This is no reason for developers to get out their long knives again. That property belongs to every last person who lives in our city and should be absorbed into Willingdon Beach Park, with an area left for functions like Sea Fair, Blackberry Festival, children’s rides that come through periodically and other public functions.
Nothing has been built yet, so let’s not be tied to a decision that was made without considering one very important point, which is the hilly and congested obstacle course that would have to be navigated just to find something to read.
Glenn Nelles is a longtime resident of Powell River who has submitted several articles in favor of the construction of a new library.
