The Renton City Council voted unanimously Monday night to put a measure on the Aug. 7 election ballot asking voters to choose where they want to locate the downtown library.

The choices are between the current site over the Cedar River and the previously chosen site – the former Big 5 Sporting Goods store on Third Street next to the Piazza.

Council members are still trying to hammer out the specific ballot language with Zanetta Fontes, senior assistant city attorney, and they expect to reach that decision at their April 23 meeting. Fontes will present a couple different versions from which the council can choose.

The resolutions will include the ballot title, a concise 75-word statement and the actual question before voters.

Ballot measure must be submitted to the King County Elections Office no later than April 25 to get the measure on the Aug. 7 ballot.

Next comes work on the 250-word explanatory statement, which Fontes must complete by May 15.

City Clerk Bonnie Walton would coordinate the formation of the “pro” and “con” committees whose statements have to be written by May 21; rebuttal statements are due May 23.

The vote Monday night came after council members debated the language proposed by Fontes and whether to include the cost to build a new library next to the Piazza or refurbish the existing one over the Cedar River.

Council members questioned how to explain that the building over the Cedar River may be repurposed for a different use, if plans move forward to relocate the library to Third Street.

The library next to the Piazza is estimated to cost $9.3 million and renovating the library over the Cedar River is estimated to cost $10.1 million, according to a City of Renton staff report.

Either expenditure would give the city a state-of-the-art library, the council was told.

More than $1 million has been spent so far in previous and current work on the new downtown library location, according to Kelley Balcomb-Bartok, city spokesperson.

Bill Ptacek, King County Library System director, urged council members to put the ballot before voters as soon as possible so that KCLS knows where it stands on the building project.

KCLS has some serious concerns about the amount of time it would take to get permits for the library over the Cedar River, Ptacek said.

He also expressed his wish that the City Council still move forward with design plans in the interim so as not to waste any time on both the downtown Renton library and the Highlands branch renovation.

Council also heard from Peter Renner, facilities director for the City of Renton, and Kirk Robinson of the cost-estimating services company, The Robinson Co. The company has worked with KCLS for 20 years to develop cost estimates for library projects.

Council members wanted to know when construction and upgrades to the library building over the Cedar River will trigger the need to upgrade the building to meet all city codes.

That threshold is reached when the amount that is being spent on construction is 50 percent of the building’s worth, based on the King County Assessor’s records.

Audience members at Monday’s meeting testified on a range of opinions on the library issue.  Some urged the council to put the measure on the ballot. Others gave ideas for alternative revitalizations plans for downtown Renton and some asked council to consider recently developed uses for the library developed by a steering committee.