Citizens' Group Petitions Downtown Library Location

The appeals process for the fate of the downtown Renton Library has begun.

Early this week Stuart Avery submitted a stack of 400 petition sheets, totaling 6,877 signatures on behalf of the group, Citizens for the preservation of Renton's Cedar River Library. The group of about 15 volunteers has stood outside Target, Safeway, Fred Meyer, the Library and walked their neighborhoods collecting signatures for a petition to keep the current downtown library where it is, over the Cedar River.

In order to file the appeal, the group was tasked with collecting signatures from 15 percent of Renton voters who were registered with King County Elections as of Nov. 2011 — or 6,383 valid signatures — to appeal the and to re-purpose the existing building. Exactly what the current Library building will become is still being decided by the Liberty Park Library Building Steering Committee and through community input.

Renton City Clerk Bonnie Walton delivered the signatures to the on Friday, said Elections Spokesperson Kim Van Ekstrom.

The terminal date - the official date the audit will begin — has been set for Thursday, Feb. 16. The group can collect and submit more signatures until Feb. 15.

The audit will determine how many of the signatures count toward the petition. If there are not enough valid signatures, the group will have an additional 10 days to submit more.

"We now await the outcome of the audit," Avery said. The audit may take two to three weeks. Van Ekstrom could not confirm exactly how long it would take, but could offer a more precise timeframe after the process gets underway.

"We really feel strongly that we are exercising a city-approved method for updating the code. We are very fortunate to live in a city with rules like these," Avery said of a policy adopted by the Council in the 1960s that allow residents to petition Council-made decisions.

The petition is very simple, he said, either invest in the current location or bring a change of location to a vote of the people. Renton residents have a right to determine where these public places go, he said.

, a small group of people opposing the decision began talking. By August, the group held regular meetings and the 'Citizens for the preservation of Renton's Cedar River Library' was born. Avery and fellow volunteer Beth Asher drafted the petition and a group of volunteers started collecting signatures in September for what "seemed to be an insurmountable job," Avery said.

No one has been paid to stand outside in the rain, snow and ice over the last six months, he said. The group is solely volunteer-based and has not collected or solicited donations. Any expenses, such as printing costs, poster board and other supplies, have been paid for from the volunteer's own pockets.

"As a people, we are hoping the city will change it's course," Avery said of the petition. He hasn't gotten push-back from the city administration, "just kind of a lack of attention."

If the auditors certify the petition, it will then go back to the Renton City Council, which will have 21 days to adopt it as it is written or to request a special election and put it on the ballot.

This is where the process could get tricky once again, said City Attorney Larry Warren.

"I don't know quite how to handle it," said Warren. "We've never had an initiative that I can recall in my 38 years working for the city."

In May 2005 they City implemented a fireworks ban as the result of a citizen-inspired referendum. But the Citizens for the preservation of Renton's Cedar River Library petition is an initiative, said Warren.

A referendum and an initiative are different, but they are two side of the same coin, he said. "An initiative will pass a new law; a referendum overturns an already adopted law."