Library officials seek Dingman support

Rock Hill Estates moving toward township approval next month By Jerry Goldberg DINGMAN — Ed Brannon spoke about the status of the Pike County Public Library system and its future before the township supervisors recently. “Dingman Township is a very strong supporter of the Pike County Library,” said Brannon, who is a member of the library’s building task force. Brannon detailed statistics: Over the last few years the library usage has grown faster than Pike’s booming population, some 23 percent. The Pike County Library system ranks sixth highest usage among the 21 counties in Pa. yet it is “dead last when it comes to receiving financial aid from the state,” he said. Over the last 10 years the county’s revenue has increased 139 percent while the county has given no funding increase to the library. “The county’s funding to us has remained flat,” said Brannon. A new library headquarters in Milford is to be built at an estimated cost of $4.5 to $5 million. This amount includes all building materials and construction costs. The cost to put the key in the door will be closer to $8 to $8.5 million, according to another library spokesperson. “The current building is 2,500 square feet and the new library will be a much larger facility of 16,000 square feet,” said Library Director Ellen Schaffner. The average size of a library in Pennsylvania is 35,000 square feet. The library expects to improve services and have more area drop boxes for returning books. They intend to have an online book ordering service similar to Netflix where books will be mailed to the customer and then returned by mail to the library. Supervisors Chairman Tom Mincer said library officials will have to deal with municipal jealousy. “Other town supervisors want the same for their municipalities and this will make it difficult to get their support,” he said. But Brannon said that over two thirds of those using the library are from outside Milford and Dingman Township. There will be a presentation of a revised library design for residents in October to show what is involved ; including the use of natural light to save energy and the ways in which rooftop plantings will be incorporated. The size of the new building was trimmed down in order to decrease construction costs, officials said. In other business Attorney Leatrice Anderson and Engineer Kristy Coulter appeared before the board on behalf of Rock Hill Estates, a planned, 199-home sub-division on state Route 739. “Our next meeting will be Oct. 7 and we would like to have everything in place so you can go ahead,” said Mincer. Anderson said the developer has complied with all the requests of the township engineer, and has revised covenants. “The township’s project phasing requirements are now in place,” she reported. The current application expires Oct. 3 and the supervisors granted a short extension and continued their meeting so all necessary plans and paperwork can be given to the board by Oct. 7, to provide an opportunity for conditional approval. “I told our township engineer to keep close with your engineer, so any issues that may arise can be corrected. We would like to have everything finalized and approved at the October meeting. I don’t see any speed bumps in the way and look forward to seeing your project get underway.” said Mincer