Library acquires land for possible expansion

The Alleghany County Public Library is in the process of purchasing a .268 acre tract of land on Main Street in Sparta for future expansion of the library.

The lot holds a building that once housed the law office of the late Arnold Young and the insurance office of Tom Richardson. The building, which sits at 136 North Main Street, is currently being used by the Alleghany Democratic party. It is owned by Tom and Norma Richardson and Young’s widow, Carolyn.

The lot is directly adjacent to the library and includes access to a parking lot that is shared with the Sparta United Methodist Church.

The current library building has 5,548 square feet under roof and sits on a lot measuring about one acre. The new library building would measure an estimated 15,000 square feet and would straddle the existing location and the additional land being purchased, according to a rough site sketch.

Library board members met with with the owners of the property and worked out a deal to purchase it over a three-year period for $190,000. The property had been listed for sale on the real estate market. The library had concerns that the land might be sold to others, which could lead to problems for the current library. “If we had lost this, we’re sort of land-locked,” said Alleghany Librarian Debbie Brewer.

She said the board and library patrons like the current location of the library; hence the need to purchase more land to expand. “We’re on Main Street, we’re accessible to the schools and we have a very visible location,” Brewer said.

The library board asked library architect Thomas H. Hughes of Winston-Salem to do a sample drawing to make sure the new building would fit within the area available. The drawing showed ample room for the new library building, complete with a small book store on the back of the building for the Friends of the Library. The plan also would allow for parking a total of 54 cars on site.

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