Thursday, August 6,2009
Hennepin County put plans for the new Library in Camden on hold indefinitely and may scrap the project altogether, because of problems with site acquisition.
The long awaited full service library, to replace the much smaller Camden branch located in Webber Park, was to be a new multi-million dollar facility facing Victory Memorial Parkway at Humboldt Avenue North. This Hennepin County investment promised to benchmark sustainable community revitalization along the 44th Avenue corridor and a significant investment for residents in the neighborhoods of Camden.
It ain’t the money – honey! The money is in the bank; a bonding bill to support the project passed and all but one parcel of land has been acquired including the old grocery store site at 44th and Humboldt Avenue North. Hennepin County developed preliminary concept drawings and was prepared to announce public meetings to engage the community and expand the discussion, when they announced that the project has been put on hold.
What we’re told; the property owner of 1423 45th Avenue North, a rental property, and the adjacent parcel 4420 Humboldt, which is a glass block manufacturing business that may be a non-conforming use according to Zoning, has rebuffed Hennepin County’s offer and are not willing to negotiate even though the County has invited them to counter-offer. 
A few words about the property in question; the single family house that fronts 45th Avenue North has been a rental property for several years. The small block building behind it has had a variety of uses serving as an auto repair shop prior to glass block window manufacturing. Until recently there was very little, to no owner investment in either building. The brick veneer on the block building was added after Hennepin County announced plans for the new library at that location.
Webber-Camden Neighborhood Organization believes that the best use of the land is a new Hennepin County Library and that the loss of this project would be especially devastating for the community and the residents of Camden!
New Development: check out the latest on the move to rescind eminent domain related to these properties!
5 Comments
I have seen several plans for the proposed library and none of them need the properties in question. There is plenty of parking and, in fact, part of the old Kowalski site is marked on the plans for “future development”. The owners of the building had it up for sale long before the library system was taken over by Hennepin County. They had already purchased new siding for the building so there always were plans to do that. Apparently the Hennepin County board has voted not to enfore eniment domain on the two parcels in question. Two of the plans for the new library have it sited on 44th and one closer to 45th.
I’m a Webber-Camden resident just stopping through this website. I had heard a few reports of a possible library near the old Kowalski’s building. But it has been very hard finding concrete information about this proposal. Now this story is discouraging. It seems like anyone would want to get a fair market buyout of existing properties in our neighborhood, especially in this market! An improvement in services to 44th and Humbolt (like a library) would be a great investment in Webber-Camden. There should be more public discussion of this, for example in the Camden News or the North News, or even in the Star Tribune. I have heard almost nothing about it, so I assume most other people outside of the WCNO office are clueless too! Thanks for the report.
Ann Kaari’s Aug12 comment suggests that there are multiple plans for the proposed library… but I have yet to see any public viewing or open discussion of these various plans. If there really are different options then it seems like something ought to work out so all parties can be satisfied and the library can go forward. IMHO it would be nice to proceed with some more public input… so far it has been so quiet compared to, say, when the Aldi went in on Lowry/Penn and there were several high profile announcements and meetings.
Also, if the county owns the old Kowalski’s building, it would be encouraging for the neighborhood in the meantime if they could keep it in better condition while we wait for forward action!
-Brandon
How truly sad this turn of events is for the Webber-Camden community! I’ve attended several neighborhood association meetings this year and listened with growing anticipation to information about the proposed library.
The potential loss of this library is truly a loss to the entire neighborhood.
I believe that the need for this library within the community is strong enough that plans should go forward using the space that has been acquired so far. If the new library can’t front onto the parkway as a result, okay it can’t. That is too bad, but the neighborhood should not have to suffer a dirth of resources because of it. There is a great deal of room at the proposed site, far more than is available at the current Webber Park site and it is far more visible and accessible. We need the asset more than we need the asthetics!