Monday December 10, 2018

THANK YOU to the Birch Bay community members who attended our meeting on Monday.

Excitement was in the air as Terry Brown and Kelsey Gates of Zervas Architects  unveiled new design drawings to 43 community members at the BP Heron Center.

The design was given full support by the audience in attendance because it so beautifully captures the look and feel of the existing house. Valuable input was provided and will be incorporated into the final design. The next step is to begin the cost estimating process.

Monday, December 10, 2018 6:00 pm – Birch Bay Library Community Meeting
Design plans for the Birch Bay Library continue to evolve. See the latest iteration and give your input.

Meeting location is the BP Heron Center, 7290 Birch Bay Drive.
Free parking is available.

Thank you for attending the third Birch Bay Community Input Session!

Thursday August 18, 2018
The smoky atmosphere from nearby forest fires didn’t deter the 46 people who gathered on the lawn at the library site for the third and final Birch Bay Library Community Input Session on Saturday August 18.

Zervas Architect Terry Brown brought initial concept drawings that utilized the community input from the first two sessions. Everyone was energized by the vision of the new library as they walked through the existing house on the site. (Download PDF of concept drawings here)

Conceptual Designs based on community input.

Next, the Library Design Committee and WCLS staff will continue to review and comment on the concept drawings. According to the current timeline, preliminary design will be brought to the WCLS Board of Trustees for approval in October.

If you have input on the Birch Bay Library facility, don’t delay – fill out the online input survey, which has been extended to Thursday August 23.  Your opinion matters to us.

Our third Community Input Session will take place on Saturday, August 18 at 3:00 pm. Join us and respond to some preliminary design concepts developed with community Input thus far. Join the excitement as we meet on the lawn of the new property. a shuttle service will be available from the Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce parking lot.

Thank you for a great Second Birch Bay Community Input Session!

Thank you for a great Second Birch Bay Community Input Session!

Monday, July 16, 2018 It was a great night with 35 people who all rolled up their sleeves to develop design concepts together. We came up with 15 creative design concepts that the architect will review and further develop. Join us for the third and final community input session on August 18, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.  This meeting will be held on the front lawn of the Birch Bay Library site at 7968 Birch Bay Drive. And be sure to take our survey online. Your opinion matters to us!

Directions to Birch Bay Bible Community Church Gym (Google Map)

In this second community meeting, on Monday July 16, we will move beyond collecting ideas and into building design. Come ready to discuss the library facility needs and work together to overcome some of the challenges of the site.

THANK YOU!

June 12, 2018
Our gratitude goes to the 65+ community members who attended the first of our three Birch Bay Library Community Input Sessions last night at the BP Heron Center. It was gratifying to see such a large turnout. We were glad to have an opportunity to provide details about the Birch Bay Library project and even more so to hear your opinions and thoughts about developing a library design for the Birch Bay Vogt Community Library.

We will have two more community meetings on July 16 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm and August 18 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm to continue this dialogue with Birch Bay residents. Please watch for updates on the WCLS website (www.wcls.org) and be sure to “like” the Birch Bay Library Facebook Page  and subscribe to the Birch Bay Library Update Email  to stay informed.

Read the Northern Light article about Birch Bay Library design meetings here.

Imagine…

• Storytimes on the lawn
• A quiet reading area with bay views
• A modern library with WiFi, public computers, a teen space, a meeting room, books, movies, music, and more!

The Vision

Whatcom County Library System (WCLS) is committed to expanding library services to the 8,400+ members of the Birch Bay community. In April 2017, WCLS purchased property at 7968 Birch Bay Drive for a future full-service library that will one day replace WCLS Bookmobile service to Birch Bay.

The Name

The offi­cial name of the new library, once built, will be the Birch Bay Vogt Community Library in honor of the original family who homesteaded this area, and their descendants who sold the property to WCLS. This is in keeping with the Everson McBeath Community Library, named for a former mayor of Everson.

The Plan

WCLS is now working with the Friends of the Birch Bay Library, who will raise the funds to pay for the new library. The initial (very rough) estimates for the total cost of the project, including the purchase of the land, come to $3.5 million to build a 6,000 square foot library. Once built, the library will be owned by WCLS and all long-term maintenance will be the responsibility of WCLS. WCLS will purchase furniture and equipment for the building. Long-term, the library system will provide staffi­ng, supplies, technology, and library collections to keep the library operating effi­ciently.

The House

Many are familiar with the “brown house” located on the property. It was built in 1913 and serves as a landmark. Currently, the intention is to incorporate the house in some way into the design of the new  library. The size of the house is not sufficient for use long-term, so the plan is to build a modern addition to bring the total size of the library to 6,000 square feet. This works out to approximately .75 square feet per person, which is the WCLS standard.

Contact us with questions or subscribe to email updates on the project.

Support the Birch Bay Building Project! Donations welcome! Please specify “Birch Bay” in Paypal’s Special Instructions section.