Storytime at Noyes Children’s Library in Kensington is so popular with families that it always draws a crowd, according to Noyes Children’s Library Foundation Board of Directors co-president Karen Beardsley.
“Children are streaming in and out of that library every day that it’s open,” Beardsley told MoCo360. “When it’s nice, they actually move it outside, and that way they can include more people, because there is a limit on how many people can come.”
The library’s popularity among local families is why its foundation signed a memorandum of understanding in 2016 with the Montgomery County government to expand its building. The proposed renovation and expansion is expected to preserve the historic building while adding a glass addition complete with an elevator that would make the library compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The project also calls for expanding the space used for offices, community programming and the library’s early childhood literacy program.
“We’re very passionate about this library, but we’re also very passionate about this design because we think it really does pack a lot of punch in terms of access and support for the community,” Carrie Storer, the library foundation board’s corresponding secretary, told MoCo360.
The agreement with the county called for the library to raise at least $1.5 million for the project. In 2022, the library met its fundraising goal, with the help of private donors and state grant funding.
That’s why board members say they were surprised when they were notified Nov. 13 by the county’s Department of General Services that the project was being removed from the county’s multi-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget.
“We’ve had monthly meetings since March of this year, and everything seemed to be going on track. And then suddenly, on the 13th of November, we heard that the [county] executive had pulled the funding,” Beardsley said.
Storer said the foundation has not been privy to the details of the contract.
“We just are aware that there is some overage in terms of the estimated cost versus what the final bid came in,” Storer said.
However, County Executive Marc Elrich (D) said during a media briefing Wednesday that the project hasn’t been cancelled or removed from the CIP, but that its scope needs to be reevaluated since bids came back higher than expected.
“I don’t know where they got the idea it was being removed from the budget,” Elrich said, speaking of the library foundation.
According to a spokesperson for Elrich, the most recent cost estimate for the proposed project is $7.7 million, which is $3.1 million higher than what has been allotted for the project.
The current available funding for the project totals $4.6 million, including the $1.5 million the library foundation has raised from private donations and state grants and the $3.1 million that county has designated in the CIP.
“We’re not prepared this year to go forward with adding even more money to the project. It is not going to be good for a year for us, for some things, and so we did not recommend putting more money in,” Elrich said. “But we kept the project in the budget, like other projects that get delayed, and this will be one that we have to figure out how we’re going to get additional funding.”
Beardsley and Storer said the only communication they’ve had with the county executive’s office was to schedule a meeting for December.
“We have stayed connected to the county throughout, advocating, offering up our support. We have been a true partner to the county throughout this process, and it’s very disappointing to feel like at the end, when the foundation has crossed the finish line, the county is not operating like a partner to us,” Storer said.
She said the foundation has kept up its end of the memorandum of understanding, including securing permits and receiving approval for the project from the Maryland Historic Trust.
Beardsley said she is concerned that major donors could take action against the foundation if their money is not used for the project soon. She said the foundation has already transmitted $300,000 to the county government.
“There was just no question that there was even a possibility that it would be sidelined. So I think that is where we’re all shocked. We did receive some very large donations. Could someone come back and sue?” Beardsley said.
Elrich said a public-private partnership like the one with the library foundation is unusual because of the risks involved — like those Beardsley mentioned.
“We rarely do a project like this … because it’s complicated,” Elrich said. “In terms of the cost estimates of this, having gone up so much, what once seemed like a reasonable amount of money contributed is no longer adequate to contribute.”
Elrich said it would be different if it was “a regular school project or library project
“If we had a shortfall in things like impact taxes, for example … if you didn’t have all the money this year, you would put it back in the CIP to a year that you expected to have enough money to cover the cost of the project,” Elrich said.
Beardsley and Storer said they are confused and just want answers about the path forward for the library. “In difficult fiscal times, you make difficult decisions, but a decision to forego this level of community support for this project, to me, seems questionable,” Storer said
