Pitch for new Mars library at heart of proposed Mars/Adams Township merger
Since the proposed municipal merger between Adams Township and Mars was first announced in January, a key component of the arrangement was the construction of a new library in Mars.
The need for a new library was demonstrated earlier this year when Mars Area Public Library, located on Grand Avenue, was forced to close for 44 days due to flooding damage caused by a winter storm.
In May 2024 — more than a year and a half before the merger proposal was publicly announced — Mars and Adams Township publicly announced plans for a new library to be built on the site of the former Mars Bank building on Grand Avenue.
Initial plans for the project called for the new library building to include a “discovery center” in partnership with NASA, extending the borough’s recurring collaboration with the space agency, as well as a branch of NexTier Bank on the ground floor.
Since then, plans have changed. While the new NexTier branch will still be included, the discovery center has been scrapped. According to Ford, neither Adams Township nor Mars were able to secure the funding to make it work. Both sides mutually agreed to shelve the discovery center about a year ago.
Ford said their inability to find funding for the discovery center was what led to the merger discussions in the first place.
“Last year … we decided that we were just going to put everything on hold because we weren’t getting the funding for the discovery side,” Ford said. “That’s what made us decide to put everything on hold until we started talking about (the) merger.”
Before deciding on the Mars Bank location, Mars and Adams Township had spent years looking for a suitable spot for the next library. One contender was the location of the building now housing Advance Community Church on Crowe Avenue.
“That site would have worked,” Mars Borough Councilman G. Michael Fleming said. “We just couldn’t get it over the finish line.”
“We were almost under agreement with the church,” Ford said. “Twice, we thought we had a deal struck with them. That fell through. We looked at other various sites around Clay Avenue but none of them were going to fit right.”
Ultimately, Adams Township and Mars reached an agreement with NexTier Bank, which took over the former Mars Bank building after merging the company in 2024. Under the agreement, NexTier Bank would gift the property to the municipalities and in return they would lease the building back to them for a new branch.
Although some residents have urged Adams Township and Mars to preserve at least part of the historic Mars Bank structure while constructing the new library, Ford and Fleming said that’s simply not possible.
“The only way that could physically be done is taking each one of those blocks and chipping them off one by one. The additional cost that would add to the project would be astronomical,” Ford said. “When people see these pictures, I think that’s probably not going to be as much of a topic of conversation going forward.”
“As much as it might be desirable, it’s just not practical,” Fleming said.
Residents of Mars and Adams Township got their first look at updated renderings of the library at a public meeting to discuss the merger Oct. 1. If all goes according to plan, work could start on demolishing the old Mars Bank and constructing the new library as early as 2028, shortly after the merger is finalized should it pass a referendum vote.
According to Ford, the progress of the new library is entirely dependent on whether voters in Adams Township and Mars approve the merger Nov. 3.
If that doesn’t happen, Ford opened up the possibility that the library would have to be built somewhere else.
“Unfortunately, I don’t believe a library is going to be built on the site (if the merger fails),” Ford said. “And we’re going to have to regroup and decide what we are going to do. Are we going to let the library just move on the way they are and try to function accordingly? Or do we have to find a site outside the borough?”
