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County rejects proposed Shamrock Park library site

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

The Fayette County Commission has turned down a bid from the Tyrone Town Council for permission to build the town’s new library in Shamrock Park.

Tyrone officials wanted to use Shamrock Park for the site so the library and a new municipal building could be built there, but the commission voted unanimously to decline to lift the deed restriction that was placed on the park when the county transferred ownership to Tyrone years ago.

That means town officials will have to find another site for the library. In a survey conducted by the town, the site with the largest approval rating was Shamrock Park, garnering 251 of the 511 total votes. Next was the current site, with 124 votes, and Councilman Mike Smola noted that accomplishing that would mean finding a temporary home for the library and city hall while the current building is demolished and a new one is built.

Another unidentified site downtown received 99 votes, and a site in the Southampton subdivision away from downtown got 25 votes. Only 11 people voted to put it at Handley Park, the final of the five options presented.

County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn noted that he had been presented with a petition signed by more than 400 persons presented who urged the county not to lift the deed restrictions for the park.

Dunn said he hadn’t checked each signature to verify those people lived in Tyrone, but he also noted that Tyrone’s survey was mailed out to townspeople and other residents who lived outside the town.

Smola pointed out that nearby residents who live in unincorporated Fayette would use the new Tyrone library also.

Dunn and Commission Vice Chair Linda Wells complained that Shamrock Park has been allowed to deteriorate, and Dunn suggested the county could take it back over and make it into a top-notch park.