Spring Township cancels plans to move 2 libraries

by Steve Reinbrecht

Spring Township has cancelled plans to move its two library branches to a single building on Penn Avenue.

 The township had planned to share the building at 3000 Penn Ave. with the Yocum Institute for Arts Education, a Wyomissing arts and performance center.

The institute has dropped its plans to buy the building.

The township had planned to open a 10,000-square-foot library in the giant building

The plan fell through in the final stages, after township supervisors decided not to contribute more funding to the project, township manager Jay Vaughn said Thursday afternoon.

The township’s two branches – the Spring Township library, in Spring Ridge near Isaac’s restaurant, and the West Lawn/Wyomissing Hills branch – can expect the status quo for the foreseeable future, Vaughn said.

In September, John Nelka, director of the Sinking Spring Library, about a mile away, had concerns about the plan.

“I think it’s unfortunate they’re putting it so close,” Nelka said then. He declined to comment Thursday.

The township plans to sell the building.

In August, the Berks County Redevelopment Authority voted to help the Yocum Institute borrow $3.4 million for the move. That deal is off, authority executive director Kenneth Pick said Thursday.