By Oliver Lazenby Washington state’s 2019-2021 capital budget, passed on April 28, includes $2 million toward building a Whatcom County Library System (WCLS) branch in Birch Bay.
The library system’s architect for the project, Zervas Architects, estimated that it will take $4.7 million to build the project – a revised estimate, up from about $3.7 million estimated in 2018.
“What that means for us now is we need to ramp up our fundraising efforts and raise the other half of the money,” said Dianne Marrs-Smith, president of Friends of Birch Bay Library, a nonprofit group in charge of fundraising for the library. “We’re just really excited about everyone’s interest in the project.”
The library may be in danger of losing the state funds if it doesn’t raise the remaining money by 2021, Marrs-Smith said. Before the state allocated money for the library, Friends of Birch Bay Library had raised just over $100,000.
Friends of Birch Bay Library has a barbecue fundraiser planned from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 29, at the site of the future library, at 7968 Birch Bay Drive. The barbecue will include children’s activities, book sales, salmon and hotdogs and live music by local band The Replayzmentz.
Gary and Cindy Lou Vogt sold the 0.86-acre future library property, which includes a historic craftsman-style house and outbuildings, to WCLS in 2017 for $675,000.
The library system held a series of design meetings in 2018 that produced a design for a 7,600-square-foot library that incorporates the style of the craftsman-style house on site. The official name of the library will be the Birch Bay Vogt Community Library to honor the Vogts.
Learn more about the future library and Friends of Birch Bay Library at sites.google.com/view/fobbl.
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