ADAMS TWP — The construction of a state-of-the-art library in the township park has been dashed — at least for two years — by the township supervisors.

The supervisors voted unanimously at their Monday night meeting to not move forward with the $500,000 grant the Mars Public Library board applied for to help pay for a new library.

The supervisors had pledged to contribute $3.5 million toward the project so the library board could apply for the grant, but the pledge was contingent upon the supervisors approving the grant once the library was notified it was available.

"We didn't feel as though the library did enough due diligence before bringing it to us,” said Supervisor Russ Ford.

The current Mars Public Library on Grand Avenue in downtown Mars is too small, has too little parking and has a number of deficiencies that would make it cost prohibitive to repair, the library board representative said in May. The building was built as a machine shop in the 1920s and has 9,000 square feet of usable space. The new library, which would have been built near the one-room schoolhouse in Adams Township Community Park, would have been 19,000 square feet.

A public meeting held in May at the township building saw 50 people turn out to share their thoughts on the closing of the current library and the move to Adams Township.

Many, including Mars History and Landmark Society President John Watson, expressed concern that removing the library would hurt downtown Mars, which is in the process of a revitalization.

Many at that meeting were appalled that the name of the library would change to include Adams Township and not Mars.

Others were in favor of a new and modern library in the park.

The supervisors at the May meeting expressed frustration that the library board did not hold public meetings, as they suggested, in the other municipalities the library serves to get public opinion. Those municipalities are Mars, Middlesex Township and Valencia in addition to Adams Township.

The vote on Monday night by the supervisors quashed the chances of building a new library now, and stated that the supervisors would revisit the library issue in two years.

Ford said the township solicitor, Mike Gallagher, will look into whether the township could include a nonbinding referendum on an upcoming ballot asking residents how they feel about moving the library to Adams Township.

No library board members attended the supervisors meeting on Monday night, but board member Janice Schmitt said Tuesday that the library project would be stalled if the supervisors voted against the grant.

“I wouldn't think so,” Schmitt said of the library project moving on without the support of Adams Township. “There's nowhere to go in Mars.”