If things go as planned, residents of North Whidbey will get to vote in the fall of 2003 on whether or not they want a new library.

After studying the issue for over a year, members of the Oak Harbor Library Board have completed a building plan for the proposed new library. They haven’t gone as far as creating a blueprint, but the plan gives them an idea of how big and expensive the project will be.

They’re talking about a 30,000 to 35,000-square-foot building at a cost of $8 to $10 million.

The next step, according to Board Chair Kathleen Shaw, is to hire a consultant to do a complete site analysis of up to five different spots in the city where a new library could be located, plus look at the feasibility of expanding the current building.

“The firm will look at all aspects — parking, accessibility, expense,” Shaw said. “They will do a very detailed analysis of the site.”

The problem with the current library is simply overcrowding. When the library moved out of City Hall 10 years ago, Shaw said officials estimated that a new library would need about 21,000 square feet or space.

Instead, the library got 11,500 square feet. At the same time the library moved to the new building, the library also went into the Sno-Isle Regional Library System, which Shaw said was definitely a good thing.

Anyone who’s gone to the library in the middle of the day probably knows how crowded it can get inside and how hard it can be to find a parking spot outside. Managing Librarian Becky Bolte said that an average of 700 people use the library each day. It’s closer to 1,000 during the busy summers.

Bolte said there’s no room in the library for children’s programs, so they have to share a conference room with Skagit Valley College — a room that is still too small. There’s hardly any space left in the library for tables or a reading area. There’s a waiting list for the computers. There’s not room for a lot of books so patrons often order them from off the premises.

The parking is bad and getting worse. The library shares the lot with the adjacent Skagit Valley College. The parking situation is O.K. right now because it’s summer session, but the college is undergoing a major expansion, which means more students with more cars.

The new library is meant to have a shelf life, so to speak, of about 30 years. Shaw said the board members determined that the new building for the library — which is, after all, the regional reference center — needs to be about triple the current size. Though they didn’t figure out how it will all stack together, the board went through all the aspects of what is needed, from a conference room to a custodial closet.

The extra room will allow for more books on the shelves, more computers, reading rooms, a more complete reference center, a conference room that can be used for all sorts of community events, and a much larger children’s section with a “cozy” story-telling room.

A library facilities district will have to be created to fund the library construction. Shaw said the district would likely be from Deception Pass to the north end of the Coupeville school district. The people in the district, then, would have to vote on a bond issue to fund the new library.

The approximate cost of the library for homeowners would be from 28 to 35 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. That would be between $56 to $70 a year for the owner of a $200,000 house.

But before the library could be put on the ballot, the board has to decide where it will be located. A couple of board members recently asked the Oak Harbor School Board about possibly renting the ballfield next to the swimming pool on Jerome Street for a library site. The board gave the thumbs up the initial step of investigating the site.

Shaw said the library board considered the five-acre, waterfront Beselin property on Bayshore Drive, next to Mi Pueblo, but the $1.5 million price tag is “out of (their) price range.”

In addition to the school site, the consultant will also look at three or four other properties in the city and the possibility of expanding the library at the current site. This site analysis is estimated to cost $18,000. The Sno-Isle trustees agreed to pay 60 percent of the cost for the study, which leaves $7,000 for the Oak Harbor library to raise.

Shaw said the board is looking into creative ways of raising the money, but nothing specific is planned yet.

You can reach Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewstimes.com or call 675-6611.