Just a 30-minute drive south of Bellingham along the Interstate 5 corridor, the facility features 76 public EV charging spaces and infrastructure to increase capacity by up to 200 stations.
The Mount Vernon community celebrated the grand opening of the project that has been years in the making Saturday, welcoming local and state officials, including U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), who spoke at the ribbon-cutting.
"Transit-oriented development projects like this create more livable communities," Cantwell said at the event. "Come up here, recharge, go to the Co-op, stop at the library — see all the wonderful things in Skagit County."
The Library Commons is being called a "regional transportation hub," featuring a public library, a young adult STEM center, a community conference center, public restrooms, a commercial kitchen, 276 parking stalls, and charging stations for electric vehicles and electric bicycles.
The city of Mount Vernon called the project a "catalyst for economic development in the Cascadia Innovation Corridor" between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.
"As an equitable anchor institution of any modern city and region, the Library is well-positioned to extend its role as a critical community connector; offering a place for seniors to gather, an early learning hub, access to digital literacy, new business incubation, employee training, and the necessary tools that strengthen democracy by addressing knowledge gaps," the city of Mount Vernon said on the project webpage.
Designed by Mount Vernon-based HKP Architects, the project is also the first publicly bid building in Washington state to be certified to Passive House standards — meaning the building requires very little energy use to maintain regular functionality. Solar panels on top of the building supply about 19-21% of the building's power demand, according to Sen. Cantwell's office.
The $61 million project was funded by local, state and federal funding — much of which Cantwell supported.
The Library Commons was awarded a $12.5 million Charging & Fueling Infrastructure Grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Sen. Cantwell supported. She also secured a $3 million Congressionally Directed Spending request for the Library Commons project in the FY 2024 annual Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. The Library Commons project also received a $26.8 million Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) loan, the first ever TOD loan in the nation, which saved the City of Mount Vernon $3 million.
©2024 The Bellingham Herald, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
