Members of the Finksburg community will join with Carroll County officials on Thursday to celebrate the groundbreaking for the new public library in Finksburg.
The groundbreaking, at 9 a.m., will be at 2255 Old Westminster Pike on a 10-acre site across from Sandymount Park.
"We're really excited about this project," said Vivian D. Laxton, the county's public information officer. "We are really glad about this green building we've decided on and everyone has really worked hard with the community to make this library a success."
The new library will have a geothermal heating and cooling system as part of its plans for creating an environmentally friendly building, officials said. The system takes advantage of the earth's ability to store heat in the soil. The library is also scheduled to have a solar water heater and other new design features.
"Some of the elements added to the building may be nonvisible to the average person," Laxton said. "But we have a number of systems that are behind the scenes. ... We will have informational signs around the building to show the community what has been put in for the environment."
Ann Wisner, the library's external relations manager, said building a new library has been discussed by county commissioners for years, but the budget didn't allow it.
"The ideas goes back to the late 1980s," Wisner said. "The community was tired of going to Westminster for books. But because of general budget problems, it was dropped for a time. In the 1990s, the community was eager to take on the task again and in 2005, we all got together and came up with a plan that everyone was happy with."
The design for the newest branch of the Carroll County Public Library was started in February 2005.
During the meetings, county commissioners and community members decided on traffic and public parking issues and discussed other basic concerns.
"We knew we needed another library in Finksburg for a while," Laxton said. "Since 2005, we have been meeting with the community to talk about getting a library around here. Now it's finally happening and everyone is glad it is."
Wisner said the library community is excited about the project.
"It's been a long time coming, and we're delighted that our plans are finally becoming a reality," she said.
Initially, the design also included a 14,500-square-foot headquarters for the library system. However in July 2005, plans changed and the headquarters was no longer included in the final construction design. The headquarters would have added an additional $3 million to the cost.
The cost for the 15,000-square-foot building is estimated at $4.9 million and includes furnishings and library materials, officials said.
"The library staff really worked with the county commissioners regarding the plans for the library," Laxton said. "Internally, we have people working to make sure that we'll have everything needed as far as materials and supplies go. We're doing everything we need to do to make this library a success."
The public library board hired Lukmire Partnership of Arlington, Va., as the architect, and the facility is being built by Tech Contracting Company Inc. of Annapolis.
Wisner said that the Finksburg library, which will be a full-service branch operating 61 hours a week, Monday through Saturday, should be finished in the winter of 2008.
"We hope and expect that the branch will be heavily used," Wisner said. "And I know the community excitement is evident about the planning as well. This is definitely something that we needed here."