WASILLA -- At first glance, the city's plan to buy the Meta Rose Square mall, at 290 N. Yenlo St., and turn it into a library seems like an easy solution to the problem of a cramped city library.

The existing library, at 8,100 square feet, is too small for visiting authors or storytellers to stop by. Its shelf space is limited, so older books are rotated out to make room for new ones. There's little room for public computers in the building.

Meta Rose, by contrast, is more than 21,000 square feet with a basement and second-story offices. Occupying half a city block, it has a large parking lot out front and a second lot adjacent to it for overflow parking. The price: $1.5 million.

"From a business standpoint, we think it's an extremely good move. With the economy, we don't see a lot of new buildings being built anytime soon, especially if we're going to bond for it," said Wasilla Public Works Director Archie Giddings.

Library supporters, however, are concerned that the building wasn't designed to be a library and isn't laid out well for that purpose. Shop owners who have businesses in the mall say they think the city might be acting rashly, tossing well-established businesses out on the street in favor of bookshelves and reading groups.

"This is a beautiful little mall and it's being destroyed for a library that could be put anywhere," said Susan Nyberg, who owns Mimi's Closet and All I Saw Cookware with her husband, David. David Nyberg also manages the mall for owners Harold and June DeArmoun. Susan Nyberg said the DeArmouns are like family, but she disagrees with their desire to make the building a library.

The DeArmouns built the mall in 1984 to house June DeArmoun's cooking store, All I Saw Cookware. Other stores -- a florist, a formal clothing store and a bookstore, among others -- are longtime tenants.

The couple has been trying to sell the mall for about five years. The mall is assessed for tax purposes at $2 million.

Harold DeArmoun sent a letter to Mayor Verne Rupright Oct. 27, offering the city the mall for $1.5 million, half a million less than the borough assessed value.

There were a few strings attached: The building had to be used for a library and it had to keep the "Meta Rose" name. The mall was named after their daughter, Meta Rose, who was in turn named for June and Harold's mothers, Meta and Rose.

DeArmoun said he wanted to close the deal before the end of the year to avoid higher capital-gains taxes that will go into effect in 2010.

The city agreed to the offer at a Nov. 9 meeting but has not yet agreed to spend money on the property. The council will discuss on Dec. 14 whether to spend $1.6 million the city already has on hand to buy the property and begin renovations.

MIFFED VOLUNTEERS

Giddings said he believes the structure will support shelves of books, a concern for libraries. The city will need to install an elevator, he said, but the building is otherwise in good shape. The city would likely spend about $200,000 this fiscal year on the renovations and $200,000 more next year. Stores at the mall would not be asked to leave until after Christmas 2011, he said.

"We're not in a mad rush. We've got time to look at this and analyze it," he said.

The city will need that time to persuade library supporters the idea to convert the mall space is a good one. Library volunteers and members of a city-appointed steering committee to help build a new library building told the City Council on Monday they were hurt and dismayed at having been left out of the discussion.

Council members on Nov. 9 held a closed-door meeting to discuss "land acquisition." Few who weren't in the closed-door meeting knew what land the council was discussing or why.

When the council met a half-hour later in open session and voted to "acquire land," the picture wasn't any clearer. Volunteers said they learned about it only a week later on television news.

"As a volunteer ... hearing it on the five o'clock news is not nice. It's ill-mannered. And yeah, it bites," said Marci Schmidt, a Friends of Wasilla Public Library board member.

MENDING FENCES

Wasilla Recreation and Cultural Resources manager James Hastings and several City Council members on Monday apologized to library supporters for not better communicating. Hastings said the prospect of purchasing Meta Rose came up quickly and the city wanted to act before it evaporated.

"We were trying to make decisions when there is an opportunity," Hastings said.

Hastings said he plans to gather the library and steering committee volunteers together to mend fences and discuss the new space before the council meets Dec. 14.

The city intends to keep the steering committee together, working toward building a larger library that will meet the city's future needs, Hastings and Giddings said.

"The new space meets (library needs) up to 2009. We just get caught up," Giddings said.