Contractors, construction crews and Sno-Isle Libraries staff are moving quickly to get the temporary Lake Stevens Library ready to open for customers later this summer.
When the City of Lake Stevens started to redevelop North Cove Park, it meant the eventual closure of the downtown library on Main Street. Since the city provides the building for Sno-Isle Libraries services, it offered its former police station on Grade Road.
Compared to the old library, the new library will have a bright, open layout and customers will notice big differences.
“The main difference will be that the new space is new – new floors, shelving, paint, ceiling,” said Sno-Isle Libraries District Manager Lindsay Hanson, who recently managed the Lake Stevens Library. “We will finally be able to offer the community a small study and meeting rooms. The availability of a meeting room allows us to offer library programs as well as the ability for community members to reserve the space for their own use.”
The front half of the building will house the library’s main collection of books and discs, along with a laptop bar for library or personal laptops, a study room and a children’s area that the old library lacked.
The back half of the building will have the new public meeting room, restrooms, and staff workspace. The old library lacked those amenities.
Changing the police station into a library took more than figuring out where to put bookshelves and what to do with the space.
Sno-Isle Libraries Facilities Specialist Tona Khau did all that figuring. It’s the biggest project she’s taken on in her 10 years with the Sno-Isle Libraries Facilities Department. While the city made exterior improvements and reinforced the floor of the building, Khau expertly managed everything else.
Khau had to figure out how long each project in the building would take, and when it should be done in relation to other projects. She sought a general contractor to do interior demolition, framing, plumbing, add drinking fountains, install ADA switches for the front doors, install a suspended ceiling, plus additional contractors to complete the construction and build-out.
The large and growing number of families in Lake Stevens figured into the plans for the new library.
“We designed the space with children in mind,” Hanson said. “The children’s area, although not large, will feature interactive play elements we think kids and parents will be very excited about.”
The police-station-turned-library is intended as a temporary measure while the city and Sno-Isle Libraries continue to explore a proposed Civic Center Campus. The city and library district own adjoining parcels on the west side of Lake Stevens at Market Drive and 99th Avenue NE. A civic center campus there would include new city offices and a new library building.
The Lake Stevens Library is currently operating as an interim “pop-up” facility with limited services at Lundeen Park. It will close when the police station remodel is complete.
“The development of this temporary library facility is another step on the journey of exploring a long-term library solution for the growing Lake Stevens community,” said Chy Ross, Assistant Director of Capital Strategy and Planning for Sno-Isle Libraries. “We are excited to offer services out of our pop-up location at beautiful Lundeen Park this summer, after demolition of the old library building, but we know that our community has missed being able to browse the collection, use computers, and connect with our amazing staff. We appreciate the partnership from the City of Lake Stevens during this process and look forward to continuing to provide library services to this growing community.
While the civic center idea proceeds, Hanson is glad that customers and staff will soon have a library they can call home.
“We’re happy to be able to offer space to meet, read, learn and grow,” she said.
