Long in the talking and imagination phase, a new library in a southern New Mexico village may finally take shape if state funding this spring is approved.
Officials in the Village of Hatch, roughly 40 miles to the northwest of Las Cruces, have long talked of the need for a modern library in the community of nearly 2,000 people.
Now a capital outlay bill approved by members of the New Mexico State Legislature is providing roughly $420,000 in funding not just for the construction of a library, but also the acquisition of land for the facility, as well as its planning and design.
The current one-story wood-frame library, located at 530 East Hall, was built in 1936 and originally served as a rail station. The Santa Fe Railway company donated the structure to the village in 1986.
Hatch is also in line to receive some $175,000 in capital outlay funding to plan, design and renovate a building for an existing food pantry; along with $100,000 to create and equip a controlled environmental vertical garden that will belong to the Hatch Valley High School.
By Garry Boulard
