Residents object to police, library swap

Mathis Winkler

Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2001 | 9:01 a.m.

On Alexander Road, just a little west of Martin Luther King Boulevard past the strip mall at the corner, a vacant, 4 1/2-acre lot awaits development.

On it stands a graffiti-covered sign that reads: "Coming soon! Northwest Branch Library -- Fall, 2000."

What's still missing is the $10-million, 41,000-square-foot library, and it might never get there because city officials are now thinking about using the land for a police substation instead.

Residents of the adjacent Hidden Canyon Village have already registered their objections about the idea, saying that city officials want to deprive them of the long-promised library.

Bill Dolan, the president of the community's homeowners association, sent library officials a letter saying that 1,500 of his neighbors opposed the swap.

But officials at City Hall say they're not trying to take away anything.

Instead, they're hoping to build a desperately needed police station and say that it will be much easier to get private funding for a library farther north.

This is the deal: the city's library district owns the land on Alexander but doesn't have the money to build the library.

The city on the other hand needs space for a police station and can offer the district a piece of land in a proposed master-planned community on 1,900 acres near the future Las Vegas Beltway.

"We're more likely to get participation from developers and builders and will end up having (a library) built a lot sooner," said Councilwoman Shari Buck of the land farther north during a Tuesday meeting of the library district's board of trustees.

The ultimate decision on the land swap lies with City Council members, who also make up the majority of the library district's board, although the two organizations are separate entities.

Library and police officials said they liked the idea.

The city needs another library, said Anita Laruy, the library district's director.

Just four months after a 4,000-square-foot satellite library opened on Craig Road near San Mateo Street, already 45 percent of the district's circulation has shifted to the smaller location.

But "unless we get private funding, I don't see a library ever being built," Laruy said.

Acting Police Chief Joe Forti said his department needed a second base as soon as possible.

With about 42 percent of all police calls coming from the northern part of town, officers can no longer respond as quickly as desired, Forti said. He added that the Alexander Road site would be an ideal location for a second command center serving the western and northern areas of the city.

Before council members make a decision on the proposal, they'll hold a town meeting with residents living nearby to explain their plan.

And Planning Commissioner Anita Wood, who spoke at the meeting as a resident and library supporter, said such a forum will be crucial to alleviate the concerns of her neighbors.

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