The county has agreed to pave the parking lot at the Danbury Library and to create a walking path from a county government center parking lot to the library to facilitate overflow parking.

County Manager Rick Morris brought up paving of the Danbury Library parking lot at the Stokes County Board of Commissioners’ Jan. 14 meeting. He said county officials discussed the need during the last budget season, because the parking lot “is horrible.” But paving would require the library parking lot to stay closed for three days.

Morris asked county public works employees about the possibility of making a connection between the upper parking lot at the government center and the library. The estimate is that it would cost about $5,000 to create a path from that lot to the library. It would require building a small bridge over a creek for the path that will run along the edge of the wooded area. Morris said that path might need to be built first to offer a way for people to get to the library when the lot is being paved.

The cost for the middle-level option to fix the parking lot at the library would be about $29,000, Morris said. Use of special materials would take place of rock and would be a more long-term fix. Commissioner Leon Inman asked if any money had been set aside in the contingency fund. Morris said $50,000 or so had been left in the capital reserve fund for paving and painting vehicles. Inman noted that the parking lot is an eyesore.

Commissioner Ronda Jones said it would be nice to have a path, but she asked if the county had to have it just since the lot would be closed. Morris said no; the path would be a permanent fixture which would help provide easy access for overflow parking. Board Chairman Ernest Lankford said it was also good for safety reasons, since overflow parking is sometimes a problem and people have tried to park at the road.

Commissioner James Booth asked County Maintenance Engineer Daniel Horne about his estimate for the paving and how it compared to a private company’s. Horne said it should be less, that the department was just trying to perform the work at straight cost. If the department went over, it would eat the cost. Morris asked if it would be March before the crew was available again, and Horne said that is usually when the weather is warm enough to do the paving.

The county board gave final approval to the projects at a meeting on Jan. 28.