Garden Valley District Library

Great News!

The Planning and Zoning Board passed our conditional use permit on the piece above the Park on Thursday, May 21st!

News article from the Idaho World published April 15, 2009 written by the Board of Trustees of the Garden Valley District Library:

For over ten years the Garden Valley District Library has had as a goal the expansion of the Library. Over the course of the years we have always enjoyed the benefit of partnering with the City of Crouch. Currently the Library sits on land leased from the City for one dollar. The Library District is larger than the City however, encompassing the Greater Garden Valley area.

Because room at the current site is limited, we have looked at numerous possible alternatives for relocating the Library. We had a site selected on the Middle Fork Road at Castle Creek Road, had passed a bond, and were on the verge of purchasing it when we were approached by the City of Crouch, Village Associates, and Les Bois Credit Union. Village Associates expressed an interest in donating a building site along with water and sewer service to the library to enable us to stay downtown.

For over eighteen months we have worked hard toward achieving that outcome, with all the complexities of dealing with four entities with competing interests and needs, and the issues of water quality and sewer treatment, city planning, and State oversight. Once again we were on the verge of obtaining a site, this time a deeded parcel downtown. The final step was a site visit to stake the site prior to the survey. During that visit it became evident that there were some unforeseen issues that led the library board to conclude that the proposed site could not meet the needs of the Library.

The Library approached the Garden Valley Recreation District with the proposal of partnering with them by purchasing one acre of parkland on the bench overlooking the City of Crouch as a site for a new Library. The Recreation District has agreed to this. We have both resolved to move forward with this course of action. We feel that the close proximity to Crouch will result in the maximum benefit for everyone. It will enable the Park to move forward with their planned pavilion, and we are excited by the prospect of a new library, linked to the park and the city by the new trail.

We would like to express our gratitude toward Village Associates, Les Bois Credit Union, and the City of Crouch for their generosity and hard work in this process. They deserve Kudos for their efforts. We wish them success in their downtown project. Thank you from the board of the Garden Valley Free District Library.