Ward 4 city councillor Troy Davies says the new library envisioned for downtown Saskatoon is too big and too costly, and he's calling on other councillors to endorse a plan that could send the Saskatoon Public Library service (SPL) back to the drawing board.

Davies signalled his intended motion Tuesday at city hall.

If passed at Budget 2020 talks two weeks from now, the motion would delay council's decision to approve $87.5 million in borrowing for the new library and effectively put the future of the project in the hands of the next city council.

Davies said his motion would request that SPL "reconsider" its recently-unveiled business case for a $154-million replacement downtown branch and "bring forward a proposal for a significantly less expensive and smaller facility that includes enhanced fundraising estimates and partnering with other entities."

"I won't support any standalone buildings," Davies said afterwards. "You need to have other amenities in those buildings."

Providing free and inclusive spaces

The new library is expected to take up 149,000 square feet — nearly double the size of the current Frances Morrison Central Library on 23rd Street.

Davies' concern came in the wake of a recent city report that questioned the amount of "general-use community space" planned for the facility (although no design work has taken place).

"At this time, the administration has no fact-based or anecdotal evidence to support the need for construction of significant additional general-use community space in the downtown," the report states.

"As such, the administration believes that the new central library design should minimize general-use community space."

Davies said "we've been informed that the size of the library is beyond what our needs are."

On Tuesday, Mike Jordan, the city's chief public policy and government relations officer, elaborated on the report for CBC News.

"General-use community space refers to the bookable space to host meetings and/or conventions that do not necessarily fall within library programming," he said. "The data indicates that there appears to be enough bookable, general use community space in Saskatoon to meet current demands."

"We didn't make any comment on the size of the library," city manager Jeff Jorgenson said of the report.

Ward 2 councillor Hilary Gough, who sits as a council representative on SPL's board of directors, said that was an important distinction.

But Davies said even in light of those clarifications, he's still concerned about "the general footprint of the entire building and the price tag that comes with it."

He pointed to the new Halifax library completed in 2014. It was built for $57.6 million and serves a larger population than Saskatoon.

"That proved to me that you can you can build a world class building for under a hundred million dollars," he said.

Davies pointed to the Halifax library, which was built for less than $100 million. (Rob Short/CBC)

Carol Cooley, the CEO of the Saskatoon Public Library Service, agreed with the recommendation about rental space but said room rentals are "really peripheral to the business of the public libraries."

"The [other] spaces planned for the new central library are core to delivering programs and services to the community," she said. "The primary focus of SPL's existing and future programming rooms is to offer free programs and services in support of lifelong learning and inclusivity."

"Many people in our community cannot afford to use fee and admission based services and the library is a public space that is available free of charge," Cooley added.

SPL CEO Carol Cooley said a delayed vote on borrowing money for the project could affect the price tag. (Guy Quenneville/CBC)

As for whether to combine a new library with other tenants in the same building, SPL chair Lisa Erickson previously told city council that "a standalone new central library best aligns with our functional program and with community input to date."

But she added, "we have ruled nothing out."

Cooley previously told city councillor that the value of the new library project was predicated on councillors approving the borrowing in 2019.

After Davies' comments Tuesday, Cooley said the price tag for the new library could "potentially" be affected by a delayed vote on the borrowing.

"It all just really depends on the timing on things," she said.

Other city priorities

Davies said he supports a new library but said his concern about the current plan partly stems from this council not having prioritized the city's list of future big ticket spending items — a list that also includes a downtown entertainment district and arena.

City manager Jeff Jorgenson recently said that prioritization exercise will only happen after the new city council is elected on Nov. 9, 2020.

Keith Moen, the executive director of the NSBA (Northern Saskatoon Business Association), said his members believe a new arena is a higher priority than a library.

Citing Saskatoon's plan for a bus-rapid-transit system, Moen said, "The masses of people that would be shuttled people back and forth — I don't think it would be for the purpose of the library but more so for the purpose of a multi purpose sport entertainment district that would attract thousands of people at a time."

Moen added that he's concerned that the full price tag for a new library was accounted for in both the city's recently unveiled 2020 budget and an even more recent list of what projects are being factored into the city's future debt load projection — but that the arena was not.

A project long in the planning

City councillors will debate whether to approve SPL's borrowing of $87.5 million for the new library during 2020 Budget talks. Those are scheduled to start on Nov. 25.

Planning for a new library began in earnest a decade ago. A reserve fund is estimated to reach $46 million by 2026.

Cooley previously said SPL hopes to fundraise another $15 million for the project.

Provided city council approves the borrowing, "then we would begin to lay the groundwork for fundraising," Cooley said.

A third-party contractor would be hired to lead the fundraising, she added.

Tax implications

The current funding plan for the new library would include annual phased-in increases to the library's operating costs until 2026, the year the new library is expected to open. It will replace the Frances Morrison Central Library, which dates back to the 1960s, is out of code and lacks an adequate supply of fundamental features such as public washrooms.

In 2020 the operating increase for a new library would be $640,000. For a homeowner with a house worth $371,000, that would mean paying an additional $4.95 just to cover the new library costs.

According to the city, "the funding will be used to finance the project until borrowing happens and then will be used towards debt repayment."