As the Woodstock Library’s May 10 election roars into its last week, signs seeking ‘yes’ or ‘no’ votes regarding trustees’ proposal to borrow $3.95 million to buy a potential new home at 10 Dixon Avenue have begun to appear more frequently, and citizens have had a chance to sound off on the project.
At an April 27 meeting, between 60 and 75 gathered at the Mescal Hornbeck Community Center to hear about the proposition and to offer their own opinions. Judging unscientifically by the applause that spontaneously sprung up at various times during the meeting, the crowd appeared somewhat evenly split, though actual speakers, given two minutes each, opposed the project by about a two-to-one margin.
The vote is a simple yes or no election that will be held noon-9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 10, with the only polling location being the Mescal Hornbeck Community Center at 56 Rock City Road in Woodstock. All registered voters in the town of Woodstock are eligible to cast ballots. Applications for absentee ballots are still available at the library, online, or at Ulster County Board of Elections website, but at this time the application must be taken in person to the Board of Elections by Monday, May 9 to get an actual ballot.
The vote on the bond issue follows more than a decade and a half of contention in the town over the fate of the 95-year old institution. Should it pass, the Library will leave the location it first occupied in 1927 (with additions and renovations over the years) for a new home in the Bearsville Flats, the former Miller/Howard Investments building on Dixon Avenue.
Library trustees have promised a deed covenant to maintain the iconic lawn in front of the old building, but would seek to sell the building itself, which, in its present condition has appeared to outlive its ability to service a modern library-loving community. Of course, there have been persuasive arguments, both for and against, seeking to renovate and maintain the current Library.
A ‘yes’ vote on May 10 would allow the Library district, itself established in 1989 (before that it was an Association Library, which did not allow it to set its own budget, nor to tax properties within its boundaries, as a Special District such as Woodstock is now, does), to borrow by way of a Municipal Bond, for the $2.596 purchase price of the Miller/Howard building at 10 Dixon Avenue. The rest of the $3.95 million borrowing would cover the necessary renovations to make the new location a functioning library. The loan will also cover moving costs. According to its agreement with Miller/Howard, the Library has until June 30 to purchase the building.
A ‘no’ vote means all bets are off. Currently, no plan B has been spoken of.
Prognostications have been all over the place. One astute observer of local elections, a local newspaper publisher, believes it will pass easily. Others are not so sure.
In 2020, Library trustees put a $5.8 million bond proposition to the public that would have allowed them to essentially tear down the old building on Library Lane and replace it with a newly constructed facility.
The voting then was on the general election day and a heated campaign took place leading up to it. When the dust cleared, Joe Biden was elected president (yes, for real), Michelle Hinchey was carrying on her family legacy in politics by becoming our new State Senator, and the Library proposition had lost…by 11 votes, 2134-2123.
Yeas and nays
At the April 27 gathering, Library Board president Jeff Collins sought to keep the lid on. “This is not a ‘yes or no’ event. This is a community information event. This cannot be a partisan event. There’s plenty of time to campaign, but not here.”
There was some sniping at this notion, but also some applause from the largely evenly split crowd.
New Woodstock Librarian Ivy Gocker got about the same smattering of applause when she pointed out that a new Library at 10 Dixon Avenue would only be about 1.4 miles down the road. “People want a community hub,” said Gocker “The library is one of the last free places you can go where people don’t ask anything of you.” She gets the same smattering of applause as Collins.
A short Power Point presentation showed the trustees point of view, listing what they said were current deficiencies: lack of space for library functions. Inefficient HVAC and poor insulation, mold issues, Structural issues, roof badly designed, not ADA compliant, Limited parking; and features at Dixon Avenue: almost 12,000 square foot interior, modern efficient HVAC; pre-existing solar panels; on site generator; fiber optic internet connection; outside covered sitting area and entrance, 44 off street parking spaces… (Draft plans are available at Woodstock.org/planning.)
After Reverend Kevin Kraft, a library trustee, asked for a moment of silence (“Remember what brings us together — Woodstock, this place we call home. We can work together, we can bring ourselves together…), the audience had its turn.
Joe Doan, former Onteora School Board member, who states that he is a licensed professional engineer for 50 years, and has “probably” lived in Bearsville for 50 years, shattered the fragile calm with a statement that exceeded the two-minute time limit for statements, that had some audience members shouting ‘enough,’ while others yelled that Collins and Gocker had spoken for far longer than two minutes.
Doan ripped the trustees, and Colliers Engineering and Design, based in New Windsor, for its environmental report on 10 Dixon Avenue, a former industrial site, that said “…there were no Volatile Organic Compounds or Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds found in either the soil or the water that exceeded Department of Environment Conservation (DEC) limits found in any of the tests. The levels of zinc detected did not exceed the limits set for residential, commercial, or industrial use.”
Doan’s environmental arguments are articulated in a Letter to the Editor elsewhere in this edition, as are many other opinions.
The Woodstock Environmental Commission (WEC) weighed in on the environmental concerns with a May 4 letter that supported the report done by Colliers Engineering.
“After seeing the April 2022 Phase II report and associated laboratory data, the WEC concurs with the engineer’s conclusions. We do not feel that a change in building ownership nor the scope of the work proposed at this time, would create an additional risk of public exposure to the contaminants of concern,” the WEC letter read. “However, to appease public concerns, we recommend a limited soil gas and indoor air evaluation following the real estate closing.”
Gay Leonhardt likened the project to buying a home, where, “each day comes with another issue.” She wondered whether the septic system, designed for an office building, could handle the library traffic.
Toni Weidenbacher touched some nerves when she asked, “do we want the Woodstock Library no longer in Woodstock?” If the vote is affirmative and the project comes to be, the library will no longer be accessible on foot easily by residents of Woodstock’s main hamlet. “The idea they (the library trustees) have is good, but Olive, West Hurley, Kingston all have libraries in the middle of town. Do we want our library where we can’t reach it except by car?”
Persistent critic of the Library, John Ludwig, a former chair of the Planning Board, was upset that there had been no meetings where the public was asked to speak since September 2018. “This board’s plans are not the people’s plans.” He pointed to a survey done in 2017, three years before the 2020 bond vote that failed, that, he said, delivered “the clear message…that voters want 5 Library Lane to be renovated and expanded, but the trustees spent the next three years pursuing just the opposite, resulting in a waste of $300,000.”
How much?
Though fewer, the Library project had its boosters, too. Longtime supporter Tim Moore decried environmental arguments against the project as untrue. “We’ve been waiting for something like this, something easy to do. This building is there, ready to go…you have a choice between this lie and this project.”
Daphne Rosenblum said that the project “should not divide people. We want Woodstock to be alive. We want to renew Woodstock so it’s not just an AirBnB where people come and go…”
When Susan Bissonette went knocking door to door in support of the project, “people wanted to know how much it would cost them. I went down the line on a tax bill, and $75 [for the Library] was the lowest on the bill…”
The election to decide whether the Woodstock Library will be allowed to float a $3.95 million bond to move to 10 Dixon Avenue in Bearsville will be held noon-9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 10, at the Mescal Hornbeck Community Center at 56 Rock City Road in Woodstock. All registered voters in the town of Woodstock are eligible to cast ballots. Applications for absentee ballots are still available at the library, online, or at Ulster County Board of Elections website, but at this time the application must be taken in person to the Board of Elections by Monday, May 9 to get an actual ballot.
Join the family! 
