After years of starts and stops, a county library branch in fast-growing Finksburg is closer than ever to becoming a reality.

County library officials say that with money available for the project, they are eyeing six possible sites for the 10,000- square-foot facility.

"We've needed our own branch for a while," said John J. Bowden, a Finksburg resident who is the newest member of the library's seven-member board of trustees, "so I'm thrilled with the prospect."

The plan is to build a county library headquarters next to a Finksburg branch. That would enable the system to stop renting office space near Carroll County Regional Airport.

At a county commissioners' meeting last week, library director Linda Mielke said that the system's search for land in the Finksburg area is moving forward.

She said that the six sites under consideration are between Route 91 and Sandymount Road, but she would not be more specific.

"We should be able to come up with one that has the best price and the best location," said Mielke.

Steven D. Powell, the commissioners' chief of staff, said that the county's land acquisitions staff is evaluating those sites.

The county's capital improvements budget includes about $3.5 million to build the branch and a 14,500-square-foot headquarters building. The complex is expected to open in 2004 or 2005.

"There's no use in waiting," Mielke said. "The demand has not subsided. People in Finksburg have been waiting a long time."

She said that the idea for a library branch in the area dates back about a decade, when a Sandymount branch and permanent headquarters were included in the library's long-range plans. Momentum for the project did not pick up until more recently.

Two years ago, county commissioners rejected a plan for a $1.7 million, 5,000-square-foot library branch for Finksburg. Although the planning commission endorsed the project, the commissioners eliminated it from the construction budget.

The library system hasn't fared much better trying to relocate its headquarters. Plans to move to the former Westminster post office on Main Street, a former firehouse in Westminster or the basement of the library's Westminster branch have fallen through.

The 10-year-lease at the headquarters' current location - 115 Airport Drive in Westminster - expires in June, but Mielke said that the library will not be ready to move its offices by then.

She said the system likely would pursue a month-to-month lease rather than renew a long-term lease. Rent and utilities cost more than $187,000 a year, she said.

This year, the previous board of commissioners considered a site near Route 91 and Deer Park Road for library headquarters and a Finksburg branch. A deal between the county and the developer of that property fell through in the fall because an agreement on price could not be reached, Mielke said. County officials also were concerned about how well the property could support a septic system.

Members of the Finksburg Area Planning Council were not in favor of that location, which they considered too remote.

"That was really the most southwestern part of the Finksburg area, and pretty much most people would agree that the Route 140 corridor from the Baltimore County line up to about Sandymount Road is considered the hub of the Finksburg area," said Deborah Ridgely, the organization's president.

Her group asked the commissioners to find a more convenient location for the proposed branch.

Ridgely said that a branch between Route 91 and Sandymount and along the Route 140 corridor would be centrally located for Finksburg residents. She said it is needed because most people in the area use branches that are at least 10 miles away, such as those in Westminster, Hampstead and Eldersburg.

"The fact we're getting closer to a facility of our own is fantastic," she said. "At this point, I'm anxious to hear more about it."