If you drive by Gravelly Lake Drive SW and Alfaretta St. SW, you’ll see the “Future site of interim Lakewood Pierce County Library” sign installed, where work is underway to install the interim Lakewood Library, including temporary fencing, installing temporary measures to control erosion, clearing and grading, and installing utility lines.
Library administrators and the building installation team continue to work toward creating a construction schedule. If the construction plan holds, the projected opening date of the interim Lakewood Library is August.
Learn more here.
Long-term Lakewood Libraries
The Board of Trustees are continuing to consider the best strategy to address the important work of planning for longer term libraries in downtown Lakewood and Tillicum.
Survey
Please complete a brief survey and share what is important to you, your family, your community. Complete a survey at any Pierce County Library or at mypcls.org/new-strategic-plan now through March 31, 2024.
The Pierce County Library System needs your input to help the Library System develop a new strategic plan.
Why are we building a “temporary” library when there is vacant commercial space available across the street?
Throwing away money… numerous retail locations in Lakewood vacant! And we need to spend money on a temporary location so we can spend more later. Can’t wait until they will want to float a bond for construction of a permanent location.
Until the library “system” can clearly define it’s purpose and parameters, I see no reason to throw money at something that has become rather fluid and controversial.
With broad-based public access to digital media, it seems rather archaic to fund a “book barn”.
We already have multiple community centers and services for other purposes.
A comunity-based volunteer club could serve the purpose of book/media sharing, at no cost to the tax payers.
The fact that the old Lakewood Library building is smaller than most of the homes ($1-$3 million in value) on Nyanza Dr, right around the corner, but somehow required $12-15 MILLION in repairs says more than necessary about whether anyone should be confident in Lakewood. What are the options for permanent locations? You could literally buy an entire storefront in the Towne Center at this point for about the same cost it would be to “repair” the old location.
I think the real headlines related to this should be reserved for news that Lakewood is firing the entire team that handles budgeting. At this point, there’s not a single person within 5 miles of Lakewood Towne Center who will confidently state that the cost of setting up and running a business here is worth the investment.
The library offers much more in the way of services than just “archaic book/media sharing.” Have you ever actually visited your local branch?