N. Fulton libraries require attention

By By Lynn Riley Fulton County Commission, District 3
Posted Monday, March 6, 2006

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As I meet with groups throughout the district, residents come to me with many issues and questions about Fulton County. One question I received recently is: "The citizens of northwest unincorporated Fulton County, as well as city of Alpharetta residents, have long recognized the need for a regional library to replace the Alpharetta Library on Canton Street. This library is way too small to adequately serve the residents who have moved here in record numbers. How do you plan to address this deficiency?"

There has been tremendous growth in our area since that library was built in 1989. Since then, two additional libraries have been built in north Fulton: the Spruill Oaks Regional Library and the Dr. Robert E. Fulton Regional Library at Ocee. Both, however, were built only after much political wrangling by my predecessor, Bob Fulton.

The Ocee library was furnished as only an 18,000-square-foot library, although the facility contains 25,000 square feet. The money to finish that library remained in the budget, but it required three board meetings to get the four votes needed to approve the expenditure.

John Szabo, the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library director, is completing an assessment of the resources and needs of the entire library system. The Facilities Master Plan will address library needs throughout the service area — all of Fulton County and the part of Atlanta in DeKalb. This includes needs in unserved and underserved areas as well as needs in areas with existing facilities. An important part of the plan will be a prioritized list of recommended projects.

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