Officials Temper Book Talk: No 'Imminent' Library Plans

Creve Coeur's Mayor, City Council and city staff will reconvene Wednesday at the Creve Coeur Ice Arena in a public brainstorming session about how to go about determining organizational needs and how to accomplish them.

In an earlier session last month, participants were asked to talk about what stood out in communities where they grew up, and to envision what a newspaper headline five years from now might look like.

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Several council members mentioned the hope that Creve Coeur builds on efforts to market the city as a hub for biotech enterprise. But the idea that gained steam during the December session and has sparked community comment afterward is the idea first offered by Creve Coeur Mayor Barry Glantz about the idea of a library in the city as a community gathering place.

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Glantz and City Administrator Mark Perkins have met at some point recently with representatives of the St. Louis County Library system, but Glantz reiterated at his monthly "Coffee With The Mayor" last week that "there are no plans to do that imminently," speaking about a library.

Residents have said they already have close access to the library system's Thornhill Branch and the headquarters on Lindbergh Blvd in questioning the need for one in Creve Coeur.

A 2012 master plan proposal used by the County Library system to push for passage of a tax increase called for the replacement of the Thornhill Branch on the existing site in unincorporated St. Louis County near Parkway North High School. That plan called the Thornhill project an "Intermediate Need."

A spokeswoman for the St. Louis County Library system has not been available for comment.

Wednesday night's session is open to the public but is not intended as an opportunity for public input. It starts at 6 p.m. in the conference room at the Dielmann Complex.