Wesley Chapel Information

Wesley Chapel Mayor Mike Hafey has made it known his fast-growing village is interested in joining Union County's push for new libraries. But he and other advocates of a library there face two major obstacles: It's not part of the current plan, and there isn't any county money for it. "We think it's wonderful when people are interested in a library, of course," said Martie Smith, Union County Public Library director. "But as far as the planning documents we're working from, (a Wesley Chapel library) would have to come sometime later if there's sufficient need for it." Some residents say the demand already exists. Since 2000, Wesley Chapel's population has increased from about 2,500 to more than 5,000 and it continues to grow. "If you'd have asked me five years ago, I'd have said we probably didn't need (a library)," said Becky Plyler, who lives near the proposed location. "But Wesley Chapel has grown enormously in size and population. That really makes a difference." The town already has a location picked out, in a "government plaza" featuring a proposed town hall, park, garden and amphitheater on about six acres at the eastern end of Village Commons, phase II. Construction on the combination office, retail and government center at N.C. 84 and Waxhaw-Indian Trail Road will soon be getting underway, Hafey said. "We've got just a dynamite location," he said. "Anybody that looks at that location has got to say, `Yes!' That's all there is to it." The site offers ample parking, high visibility, convenience and a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere, Hafey said. The Weddington regional library, which has been in the works for more than five years, would be near N.C. 84 about a mile from the Mecklenburg County line -- a location Plyler called "not centralized." Library board members have disagreed and note the Weddington library remains their highest priority. "In terms of population and geography, Weddington is still the logical site for the library," board member Ann Standridge told county commissioners last week. "We do not want the library system to be diluted by a lot of underfunded libraries." Wesley Chapel officials say such concerns are exclusionary and unwarranted and said they believed commercial development in the village would help the library pay for itself. "Heaven forbid everybody got a library," Hafey joked. "We wouldn't want that to happen, would we?"