Port Moody needs a new library.
And the city’s mayor says the wheels may already be in motion to help make it happen.
On Tuesday (May 9), library board chair Daphne Herberts told council Port Moody’s library has fallen behind facilities and programming available in other cities of comparable size across B.C.
“There’s not enough room for all the materials residents want,” she said in a five-minute delegation prior to the commencement of council’s regular meeting May 9.
“Many services can’t be provided like maker spaces. There’s limited space for lending collections, there’s no computer labs or meeting rooms. It means we’re unable to experiment or innovate like other libraries.”
But in subsequent discussion by councillors, Mayor Meghan Lahti hinted low-level discussions about a new library are already happening.
“I’m a huge supporter of the library,” she said. “Hopefully we can get moving on this initiative.”
Herberts said since the current library in the civic complex opened in 1995, it hasn’t been able to keep pace with the city’s growth. In fact, a consultant’s report in 2017 recommended it expand from 12,500 to 42,500 sq. ft. to meet the community’s needs.
Several plans over the years to expand the library or even build a new one haven’t gone anywhere, Herberts said.
Those include council’s approval in 2006 of a library building expansion committee and subsequent approval the next year of a concept statement to realize its expansion.
In 2008, a budget for a library building project was part of the city’s five-year capital plan but two years later it was removed.
“There is considerable history,” Herberts said.
And with Port Moody on the leading edge of considerable growth anticipated in the next 10-20 years, the pressure on the library’s current facility is only going to increase, said its director, Marc Saunders.
“We need more space rather than just keeping with the status quo,” he said.
Herberts said the city has a golden opportunity to build a new library on the property at the corner of Ioco Road and Murray Street that was once occupied by the old firehall prior to the opening of the adjacent new firehall in 2014.
But an effort in 2018 to amend Port Moody’s official community plan and zoning bylaws that would have paved the way for the property to be sold for development into a high-density neighbourhood that could have included space for a new library as well as seniors housing and commercial space stalled.
Later that year, voters in the city rejected the idea of selling the property for development in a special referendum question included on civic election ballots.
Herberts said the old firehall property is centrally-located and large enough to accommodate a library that would serve the community for years to come.
She said the library board isn’t interested in getting a second branch as that would only increase its costs, nor is it keen to move the library elsewhere in the city.
Several councillors expressed support.
“It is your time,” said Coun. Diana Dilworth.
“I think this is really important,” echoed Coun. Amy Lubik, who successfully proposed a motion that discussions about a new library continue at council’s strategic planning committee.
Coun. Kyla Knowles said Herberts and Saunders’ presentation had won her over.
“This was not something that was ever at the top of my list for need-to-have give our fiscal restraints,” she said.
“I think you’ve changed my mind tonight.”
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