The Herald-Zeitung

SATTLER — The wait isn’t over just yet, but officials at the Tye Preston Memorial Library cleared a major hurdle on Sunday toward the opening of a new library to serve the Canyon Lake area.

Bette Wehner, president of the library’s board of trustees, told an estimated crowd of 100 to 200 residents who attended a groundbreaking ceremony on Sunday that it had been four years, seven months and one week since they’d last gathered at the site.

That’s when library officials had a dedication for the land, which is located on the South Access Road across from the Canyon Lake Community Resource and Recreation Center and was donated to the library by the family of former state Rep. Carter Casteel.

“From that moment on, we’ve had quite an adventure,” Wehner told the crowd.

The adventure is expected to end in about 12-14 months, a wait that won’t be nearly as long as the one leading up to Sunday and one that will then start a new beginning for the library.

“This is a ‘Hallelujah’ day,” said county commissioner Jan Kennady, who served as one of the co-chairs on the library’s capital campaign committee. “We’ve had such tremendous support from the community — organizations, small businesses, corporations. Everybody has pulled together.”

It was a long, uphill battle leading to Sunday’s groundbreaking, similar to the uphill trek visitors had to take to get to the future home of the library.

The new library is located atop a hill on South Access Road, and the natural beauty of the location elicited a joke from Comal County Judge Danny Scheel.

“What a beautiful sight. ... They really ought to include a couple of bed and breakfasts on the back,” Scheel told the crowd.

Wehner, who has served as president of the board of trustees since the library became its own district in 2000 and previously joined the board in 1997, said library officials have been working on a plan to expand since 2000.

“We started putting money aside,” Wehner said. “We have known from the beginning that we had to be very prudent in the way we saved and put everything we could into the building fund.”

Originally, the cost of the new library — from engineering, design, construction and expansion of materials — was estimated at $3.1 million. However, that has increased to $4.15 million, including the value of the land.

So far, $2.2 million has been raised, Wehner said, with nearly $1 million of that coming from pledges from more than 300 community members.

“These are the people who have really made it go,” Kennady said.

The rest of the money came from a loan that came via certificates of authorization from the Comal County Commissioners Court, but isn’t using any county taxpayer funds.

“We were at a point where we knew we had to borrow money,” Wehner said. “It was very tight and we were up against a brick wall. The commissioners made it possible for us to go ahead with construction. We are very grateful.”

In response to a growing community — Tye Preston Memorial Library serves the northeast part of the county, including Sattler, Startzville, Hancock and Fischer — the new library will be more than three times larger, a 19,000-square foot home with triple the parking space.

Wehner said the library is planning to double the amount of materials available at the library, but just as important will be the expansion from a single meeting room to a community center with separate conference and computer rooms.

“I feel like we’ve built the library the people in this community said they wanted,” Wehner said.”

“It’s not just a library, which is wonderful in itself, but a gathering place,” Kennady said. “It’s a good place to gather, learn and be entertained.”

“This is very exciting,” said George Steinke, another co-chair on the capital campaign committee. “This is more than just books. This can bring the community together.”

The new library not only will have an immediate impact on the community, but it will also have a lasting one, Scheel said.

“It will serve as a facility for people of all ages for years and years to come,” Scheel said.