Contrary to the King County Library System’s assertions, the Vashon Park District is not forcing the Vashon Library to abandon its location at Ober Park, the chairman of the park district’s commission wrote in a letter last week.
David Hackett, who chairs the Island’s five-member park commission, wrote a letter to the head of the library system’s board noting that the park district remains open to discussions to keep the popular library at its current location at the park in town.
The letter is in response to comments by Bill Ptacek, head of the King County Library System (KCLS), who has said on several occasions that the park district is forcing the library system to look elsewhere for a new location.
Ptacek has made those comments to The Beachcomber; KCLS also said in a news release currently posted on its Web site that it was “forced” to look for other sites because of the park district’s actions.
Hackett, in his letter to Lucy Krakowiak, who chairs the KCLS board and is a member of the Burien City Council, took issue with Ptacek’s assertions.
“We note with considerable dismay that Mr. Ptacek continues to publicly claim that the library is somehow being ‘forced’ out of Ober Park by the Vashon Park District,” Hackett wrote to Krakowiak.
“This has never been the case,” he added. “We have always been willing, and remain willing, to discuss various options for retaining placement of the library within Ober Park.”
The issue has been brewing for weeks, ever since KCLS announced it had signed a letter of intent to purchase a free-standing structure at the K2 site, should Islanders Dick Sontgerath and Truman O’Brien purchase and develop the sprawling, 18-acre site.
Ptacek and his board made that decision, he said at the time, because the park district has said that it would not renew its lease for the Vashon Library at Ober Park when it expires in nine years.
Park commissioners, however, have said they told KCLS they would make such a move if the library system adhered to one of its last proposals — an expansion of the current library that would reduce the amount of green space in the park.
Earlier this year, the park board dispatched Commissioner Bill Ameling to meet with Ptacek and let him know the park board did not intend to end discussions when it made that statement.
Hackett, in an interview, said he and other board members “expected that there would be a dialogue” and they remain open to “looking at ways to remodel that building that might be more friendly to the park.”
Ptacek, meanwhile, said he told Ameling he wanted “something official” as a follow-up to their conversation and never received anything.
Because he hadn’t seen Hackett’s letter as of last Friday, he declined to comment on its contents.
“I’ll be anxious to see the letter. I’m sure the board will be responsive,” Ptacek said.
The issue will come before Island voters next month when the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council mails ballots to all Island residences.
One of the questions on the ballot will be whether Islanders prefer to have the library at Ober Park or at the proposed K2 Commons.
