Secures land for planned new Selkirk facility from province
By Andrew Buck
Friday January 13, 2006
Premier Gary Doer says a new library can expect provincial support.
Photo by Andrew Buck
Selkirk Journal — Two acres, two dollars. Net savings: $64,998.
Boxing Day bargains have come and gone for another year, but that didn’t stop the Selkirk and St. Andrews Regional Library from scoring one heck of a deal. The library announced earlier this week that it has secured the land for its planned new facility from the provincial government for the princely sum of $2.
The two-acre plot of land is located across Manitoba Avenue from the Selkirk Mental Health Centre and provincial officials have pegged its value at $65,000.
The library’s board has been working on the idea of a new and expanded facility for years, chair Colleen Sklar said. The acquisition of land for that facility is great news for both the library and Selkirk, she said.
“Selkirk has become and continues to be a destination community,” Sklar said. “Our future looks bright.”
A new facility will allow the library to expand its services with a bold new vision, she said.
“What we envision is a state of the art building that represents who we are as a community. This could be the envy of every other community,” Sklar said. That vision would remain feasible, she added.
“We will also make this building viable – we won’t be wearing rose-coloured glasses,” she said.
Securing the land was a vital step in the process to get a new building built, Don Forfar said at Wednesday’s announcement. Forfar, who is the reeve of St. Andrews and also chairs the new library steering committee, said everything has moved forward from an initial Friends of the Library meeting two years ago.
Library backers identified a 2009 ribbon-cutting goal early on, he said, and also established three key prerequisites for construction.
“We had to get an address, we had to get a business plan and we had to get a picture. Without that, we couldn’t move forward,” Forfar said.
He said a consultant has been hired to work on a business plan and the library is looking to engage an architect to draft designs. The facility’s size should be between 25,000 to 30,000 sq. ft. – compared with the current 5,000 sq. ft. building – and the cost has yet to be determined. Initial estimates had the figure at $5-million, Forfar said, but that has likely risen due to climbing construction costs.
Provincial politicians and their municipal counterparts at the announcement were all smiles. Premier Gary Doer, in Selkirk with a contingent of his cabinet ministers, said the province will provide assistance during future phases of the project.
“You can count on the provincial government being there for the land and the capital expenses,” the premier said, before quickly clarifying his statement to a room full of laughter. “Not all of the capital, but some of the capital,” he added.
Selkirk MLA Greg Dewar was similarly enthused.
“It’s such an exciting day as we move toward building that centre of excellence and hopefully we’ll return to this site in 2009,” he said.
Selkirk Mayor David Bell, meanwhile, trumpeted the co-operation between provincial and municipal levels of government.
“It’s a great day when the province can step forward and partner with the Selkirk and St. Andrews Regional Library,” Bell said.
abuck@bowesnet.com