Feasibility Study For New East Helena Library Moves Forward
 | Author:
Linda Kent, MT43 News Staff Reporter
MT43 News Correspondent |
Feasibility Study for New East Helena Library Moves Forward
Linda Kent
MT43 News Staff Reporter
East Helena’s City Council voted to move forward with a study to determine the feasibility of building a new city library near the swimming pool in JFK Memorial Park. A branch of the Lewis and Clark Library, the potential new facility would replace the existing library on Main Street.
Lewis and Clark Librarian John Finn told the council that the East Helena Library Site Committee has worked for more than a year to find a new place to house the community’s branch.
“We want to be on the coattails of East Helena’s expansion,” Finn said. “And we are ready to make a significant investment by building a brand new building. We just need a piece of land to do that.” The piece of land the committee has settled on would be a portion of JFK Park.
“We believe it would become a community hub for East Helena while enhancing the usability of the park,” Finn said.
“We’re outgrowing our current facility,” East Helena Branch Librarian Andrea Eckerson said. The library has approximately 1,200 cardholders, with that number increasing by about 1 percent each month. She said a new facility would serve both to enhance business entrepreneurship and attract visitors to the community as well as provide a place for teens to go after school.
“Our meeting room is already being challenged in capacity,” Eckerson said. She added that the library’s community room is used for everything from tutoring and guitar lessons to business calls. “We need a new library.”
Finn said the committee reviewed locations around the community.
“It just seemed an ideal place for a library,” Finn said. “We identified this piece because it’s close to schools – it’s really close to Prickly Pear and Radley schools, it’s next to the swimming pool . . ., and it’s going to provide synergy with JFK Park.” The location would also provide a connection to trails, public restrooms, a place for information kiosks, and the ability to support community events.
Support for the feasibility study presented during the meeting came from East Helena Public Schools, the Helena Area Chamber of Commerce, and library board and site committee members.
“Community space is so important,” Helena Chamber President and CEO Callie Aschim said in support of the study. “When you’re looking at growth, third spaces – places where people don’t live and don’t work but they can go – are so important when you’re building community. . . . One of the most special things about East Helena is that sense of community. As you grow, having those third spaces is important to protecting that.”
The council voted unanimously to approve the feasibility study.
