TRAVERSE CITY -- Conversations are "ongoing and serious" about adding a public library to a west-side elementary school when it is reconstructed next year, Traverse City public school administrators said.
School leaders have been in talks with the Traverse Area District Library to build a branch into blueprints for Long Lake Elementary -- the next of Traverse City's 13 elementary buildings to be overhauled.
A similar arrangement is in place at Old Mission Peninsula School.
"We are moving down the line of hopefully getting to a formal arrangement," said Paul Soma, the district's chief financial officer.
Library administrators for years have wanted to construct a branch in Long Lake Township. No direct service is provided there.
The Interlochen branch is the closest, but for many township residents it is out of their line of traffic, library Director Mike McGuire said.
The library's Friends group is working to raise money to construct a facility east of the township hall on North Long Lake Road, McGuire said, but thus far have netted about $200,000 of a $1 million target that has been reduced several times.
"We've just not had that kind of success," he said, comparing Long Lake's fundraising efforts to that of Kingsley and Fife Lake, where new branches recently opened.
He added that the township's lack of community center could be a factor.
"It sure had some possibilities," McGuire said of working with the school, where reconstruction is set to begin in June 2010 at an estimated cost of $9.5 million. "We need to get some library service out there."
Both groups want to create a public entrance to the library separate from the school so visitors wouldn't have to navigate school traffic.
The interior would be a combined space with distinct sections for children and adults, part of a goal to unite the school with the community, said Paul Mahon, the district's capital projects director.
Financial discussions are ongoing, but Mahon said it is likely the library system would pay capital costs to construct their portion of the building, as well as share utilities and other operating expenses.
The school district would own the facility.
"There's a lot of intangible benefits," Mahon said.
A new Long Lake school will rise on the site's 45 acres because of space constraints with the current building off North Long Lake Road.
Newly remodeled Cherry Knoll Elementary will serve as a model.
District and library administrators also are discussing the possibility of a similar arrangement at Interlochen Community School, which will follow Long Lake in renovation.
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