Email
Print
Troutman library tale building to a happy ending
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: May 23, 2009
There's been something of a good old-fashioned roof-raising happening in Troutman the past few days and the effort has given shape to the town's long-awaited library.
"When the trusses go up, it really starts to give folks an idea of what this is going to look like," Town Manager David Saleeby said of the J. Hoyt Hayes Memorial Troutman Library. "And I think it's a pretty impressive sight."
The speed with which the project has been moving the past two weeks may have some thinking it's an almost magical sight.
Larry Querrey, with general contractor Morlando-Holden Construc-tion Inc., is the site superintendent. He said that once the April showers let up, the project shifted gears.
"Yeah, it's going pretty good right now," Querrey said. "After we got through with all that rain and mud from last month, I'd say things started going pretty fast."
Querrey said he laid the concrete slab for the library the first week in May.
"And everything you see right here has been in the past two weeks," he said, pointing to the structure that by Friday afternoon was fully framed and two-thirds of the way trussed.
Saleeby explained that the project has adopted a three-part quality and is currently on the second of those parts.
The first part was the fundraising work done by the nonprofit Citizens for the Troutman Library.
Headed by Troutman resident Winkie Powell, the group raised more than $700,000 over five years.
A large chunk of that amount — $310,000 — was donated by Paul and Wanda Haughton. The library is named in honor of Wanda Haughton's father, J. Hoyt Hayes.
The total cost of the library, however, could exceed $800,000. And while Citizens for the Troutman Library members are still raising money any way they can, the town will be responsible for the balance of the costs.
"The third part of the project is when we turn the keys over to the county," Saleeby said.
The library will essentially operate as a branch of the Iredell County Public Library.
That key exchange will occur sometime before the end of the year, but Saleeby and Querrey both said the bulk of the construction work will be completed by the end of August.
"It's up to the county to buy all the furniture and, most importantly, the books," Saleeby said.
The library, located at the corner of Church and Brown streets, is slated to open in January.
Email
Print
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertisement
