New library cornerstone of downtown dreams

A new downtown library could be just what's needed to keep the revitalization momentum going in Carson City.

When Carson City leaders attended the Urban Land Institute's project analysis session in Las Vegas two years ago, they came away with a clear set of guidelines for revitalizing the downtown.

The first and most urgent step, said Tammy Westergard, deputy manager of the the city's Office of Business Development, was to develop a city center.

"The company said we needed a heart - and a heart that beats," Westergard told the Carson City Board of Supervisors last week. "We needed to focus on civic investment for an overall catalyst and find the right partner for that catalyst."

Studies are consistently showing that libraries can be remarkable catalysts for community revitalization, and Carson City leaders believe a new two-story library is the way to go.

According to the national Planning Commission Journal's summer edition, new and renovated public libraries have become "cornerstones of downtown in dozens of cities" across the country.

Seattle, Salt Lake City, Denver and Rockville, Md., have reaped the benefits of foot traffic from a library that helped to change the downtown landscape, said Carson City Library Director Sara Jones.

That's what Carson City hopes to accomplish by bringing a new library to its downtown core, Westergard said.

"Carson City Library is the right iconic civic partner as an institutional anchor for a downtown mixed-use development," Westergard said.

The library on Roop Street is woefully inadequate and outdated, Jones said.

"It is undersized and hasn't been remodeled in 27 years, even though we've had steady and consistent growth," she said, noting they get more than 250,000 visits a year.

"A 21st-century library should be a nice place where people want to come and sit to read or meet up with friends. Now we're more like a dry cleaner's where people just come in to drop off and pick up," Jones said.

Funding options for a

new library are varied and can include private and

grant funding or bonding with repayment through property taxes, sales taxes, operating revenue or proceeds from sale/lease

of existing facility.

Successful library

Rockville is a city of about the same population and geographical size as Carson City. A new library there became the anchor not only for commerce, but community pride, Jones said. It has also become somewhat of a model for Carson City.

Jones and other civic leaders have been to Rockville twice to find out what worked and what didn't, she said.

Lynne Benzion, associate director for Rockville Economic Development Inc., said their new library has paid off.

"It brought people to the downtown where they could park. They'd go to the library, then they'd eat and they'd shop. They're now part of our vibrant streetscape," Benzion said.

"It was a fairly long public process - a decade long," she said, "but we found that it helped with the dual roles of (the services of a new library) and redeveloping a commercial center. The synergies were very effective."

Steve Neighbors, a "turnaround consultant" working for the Nugget and serving as president of the Carson City Downtown Consortium, will host a design workshop this week with urban planners to see what can be accomplished for the good of the city as well as local businesses.

"The Nugget's land holdings - eight acres downtown - are key," Westergard said, "and geographically, it is in the middle of town."

She said ideally, the area surrounding the casino could be developed into a multi-use area that would include components such as the library, lodging, conference space, office space, retail and business.

Mayor Bob Crowell said he supports the idea of a new downtown library.

"Today a library is more than just books and computers. We're raising the bar and letting our children know we value knowledge and community spirit," he said.

Rest of town?

"While we're doing the downtown, though, what are we doing about the rest of Carson City? If we have a healthy downtown, we have a healthy heart, but we need to keep an eye on the rest of the city," Crowell said.

Leaders admit it will continue to be a challenge to fill empty big box stores like Kmart and Gottschalks, but believe it's important to create an atmosphere that Carson City is culturally appealing, a center for government and a knowledge center.

The potential for business associations forming along portions of South or North Carson streets or along parts of U.S. 50 East offers opportunities for facelifts and event planning, said Supervisor Shelly Aldean, who added that she was in favor of people taking charge of their own destinies.

Supervisors said the downtown business association sponsors its own events like the Wine Walk and the Beer Crawl.

"Carson City has tremendous potential to realize its downtown dream," said William Hudnut, Carson City panelist chairman for the Urban Land Institute. Going forward, "this will take its engaged citizenry all working together to turn the dream to reality."