11/17/1987 - Laserfiche WebLink

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site unless we already had an option on the surrounding property. She did not feel the County would allow a private firm to come in there and build a facility of this size and depend on other people's property for sufficient parking. Mrs. Jordan believed the library would be an asset to any area and did not feel we would have any trouble getting the Catron property rezoned if 7 out of 9 owners have given positive response. Bill Koolage, 815 26th Avenue, objected to tying in the location of the library to the revitalization of downtown, and strongly believed that the revitalization of the downtown area should not be at the taxpayers' expense. He stressed the traffic congested in the downtown area, and pointed out that we constructed Indian River Boulevard to take traffic out of the city, not to bring it in. Mr. Koolage encouraged the Board to choose the Catron site, which is large enough and gets the parking away from downtown. He believed that when you are using taxpayers' money, you have to watch out for the taxpayers. Bill Stegkemper, longtime resident and real estate agent in Vero Beach, pointed out that although he has no interest in any property in the downtown area, he wished to urge the Board to considera downtown site for a government complex, i.e. library, courthouse, administration building, etc., which would benefit from common parking. Herndon Williams of Vero Beach agreed with Mr. Koolage about revitalizing the downtown area at the expense of the taxpayers of Indian River County. He felt it would make more sense to build the library where traffic could move more easily. Mary Jane Goetzfried, speaking as a resident of the downtown area, wished to see the Grace Lutheran block redeveloped into a library. She pointed out that the lots in the area back of the Courthouse .have large setback areas. Nov 1`! .'1987 29 BOOK 70 F'a c124 L-