It was eight months ago that residents of West Hempstead voted down a referendum to construct a new library on the Western Beef property, located on the corner of Woodfield Road and Hempstead Avenue. Now, there is no going back as a storage facility is in the process of being built on the land.

Although there was not much disagreement that West Hempstead needed a new library, there was division among residents about where the new library should be built. Because the library board felt that it had exhausted all other possibilities before coming up with the proposal for the Western Beef site, the referendum went out to voters.

Proponents of the plan felt a new library would revitalize the area, which is in need of renovation. However, they were not able to convince the majority of residents, some of whom were concerned about possibly safety hazards posed by putting a library is a busy area. The referendum was defeated by a 1,455 to 916 margin in June.

Since the library board has been discussing other options, it is apparent that putting the plan before the voters again is not one of them. A storage facility is currently being built on the land.

The proposed library would have been a 26,500 square foot facility and would have cost $10 million.