By Jonathan Copsey / STAFF

“It is a reality and it is coming.”

So spoke John Szabo, Director of the Atlanta Fulton County Public Libraries, to a room full of library enthusiasts about the proposed East Roswell Library.

The director had come north of the river to give an update on the progress of Fulton County’s libraries after the passage last November of a bond referendum granting millions to the library system.

In the run-up to last year’s bond referendum, Szabo and his staff held numerous town hall meetings throughout the county to shaowcase their plans for the future. East Roswell residents were surprised to see that they had been left out of any plans for a new library. As the members of PEARLS (People for the East Roswell Library) pointed out to the library board last year, GA 400 is an all but impenetrable barrier for much of the day, leaving East Roswell residents without any close library services. Through the efforts of Mayor Jere Wood, the city put up some land on Fouts Road to sweeten the deal for placing a new library in Roswell.

In the end, after PEARLS and Mayor Wood went downtown to personally lobby the library board, Roswell was granted a 15,000 square foot building in the final proposal.

It has been a year since the bond referendum passed and, according to Szabo, most of the work has been done behind the scenes, organizing the sale of the bonds themselves and choosing the program management firm to organize the design and construction contracts.

According to his timeline, construction on the libraries is expected to begin in 2011, with 2010 devoted to design work.

Those gathered to hear Szabo’s updates were concerned over this proposed timetable. As they saw it, Roswell already had its land problems dealt with – the library just needs to begin construction. So why is the project being held up by those libraries that still need to figure out their land issues?

According to Szabo, it’s not. Each library will have its own timeline and contractor. “It will all happen simultaneously,” he said, referring to building, design, land acquisition, etc.

Over the next year, the library will be taking suggestions on design from Fulton County citizens.