After narrowing the field from 13 potential library sites to three, the Durango Public Library Advisory Board has settled on the 2.5 acre Mason Center site, over the Mercy Hospital Campus and the River City Hall Complex.

Board members say all three sites presented their own set of problems. However, in the end, those associated with the Mason site were deemed the least insurmountable.

“We are not being whimsical in this choice,” said board chair Bev Darmour. “We have worked long and hard, and I believe we are doing the best good for the greatest number of people.”

Although the River City Hall site was a forerunner because of its attractive setting along the river and ample space, it was ultimately regarded by the board as too costly.

“The River City Hall site would be about double the cost of the Mason site,” said Mac McInnis, a member of Friends of the Library.

According to the Library Site Review Committee, the River City Hall site, on the west end of Camino del Rio south of the old Power Plant, carried a price tag of between $3.5 and $8.9 million – not including the cost of actual library construction, estimated at around $10 million. The costs were related to relocating the fire station, city offices and a small storage shed on the 2.5-acre site. Other costs were associated with roadway modifications, including new traffic signals and sidewalks. The cost of construction delays of the library while the fire station looked for a new home also were factored in. However, according to Ed Angus, the city appointee to the Library Board who compiled the site report, this could have been a moot point.

“The fire chief is adamantly opposed to relocation,” he said.

In addition to finding a new home for the fire station, the city also would need to find a new home for occupants of its 5,240-square-foot offices. Although one possibility is the existing library, city workers would still need offices in the three- or four-year interim between demolition of their building and vacancy of the old library. Furthermore, costs to renovate the old library into city offices were estimated at $750,000 to $1 million.

The second site that was ultimately not recommended by the Library Board was the Mercy Campus, which will be abandoned when the hospital moves to Grandview in 2005.

While the 8.5-acre site was ideal because of its proximity to the River Trail and residential neighborhoods as well as its ample space, board members felt the cons outweighed the pros.

“The first major problem with the Mercy Campus is it has a multitude of owners,” said Angus. “All parties would have to agree to vacate and sell.”

Furthermore, he said the site may not even be put up for sale.

“The Southern Utes are interested and may consider the site in a trade,” he said.

The time element was also a factor in rejecting the Mercy site, Angus said. With the site not available until the fall of 2005, the earliest the library could be completed would be 2009, he said. In the end, Angus also said the unknown cost of the project in addition to the risk involved made it undesirable.

Board members cited a number of reasons in choosing the Mason Center site, including its size, proximity to downtown and residential neighborhoods, and its immediate availability. Furthermore, the site is city-owned and already zoned as a public district and was identified for a new library in the city’s 1999 Master Facility Plan. Another plus to the site was the relatively low cost associated with it. It was estimated that relocating the tennis courts and the city-run programs in the Mason Center would cost between $246,000 and $946,000.

The city also explored the possibility of recovering some of its construction and relocation costs by selling the back half of the parcel to a developer. A local realtor estimated the city could regain between $800,000 and $1 million in such a deal, Angus said.

However, the board did recognize the shortcomings of selecting the Mason Center site, namely relocating the city-run entities in the Mason Center and finding a new home for the tennis courts. There are also private organizations using the center, the Adult Education Center and Durango Latino Education Coalition, though the city has no legal or financial responsibility to relocate them, Angus said. However, he did note that these groups could use the existing library once it was vacated.

However, according to McInnis of Friends of the Library, these upcoming decisions pale in comparison to the one that already has been made.

“You can find a place for tennis courts – it can be done a lot more easily than finding a place for a library,” he said.