Plans for a state-of-the art library in the old hospital in Coalville are moving forward as the Summit County Council works to preserve the historic building.

The brick and wood structure at 80 N. 50 East, which currently houses the Summit County Health Department, was built in 1938 and is worth saving, councilpersons said.

“I was born in that hospital,” said Summit County Councilman David Ure, a longtime resident of Kamas.

Pat Putt, a member of the Summit County Historic Preservation Committee, said many people tell stories about the building.

The structure is one of few left in the area that is a product of the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal-era agency, Putt said.

“Which is a significant story to maintain and continue to tell,” Putt told members of the Summit County Council at a meeting Dec. 2 in Coalville. “Good preservation is more than just the architectural part of the building, it’s more about the story the building tells.”

Officials hope to remodel the building, which for years was a hospital for the East Side, into a library for the Coalville area.

“This building would perform like a new building,” said Allen Roberts, an architect at Cooper Roberts Simonsen Associates in Salt Lake City.

Officials hired Roberts to determine whether the building, which is owned by Summit County, is worth saving.

“If we build it new, we could build a much larger building,” Summit County Councilman John Hanrahan said about tearing the structure down and starting fresh.

Currently, less than 1,000 square feet at Coalville City Hall houses the North Summit branch of the Summit County Library.

“A lot of these libraries now are community centers,” Roberts said. “They’re not just libraries.”

The old hospital “would be a very high-functioning library,” Roberts said.

“The second you walk in the door you could see the value of the library opened up,” Roberts said. “You have tall ceilings.”

Rather than tearing the building down, remodeling the space would be cost effective, he said.

The 7,000-square-foot building could house the library on its main floor and in its basement.

“Things that are not used very frequently on the main level could be put downstairs,” Roberts said.

He said, the floor plan includes extensive juvenile and children’s collections.

Health Department officials could still occupy about 2,100 square feet.

“I think it would last you another 30, 40, 50 years,” Roberts said.

Remodeling the building for a library and health office could cost about $646,550, Roberts estimated.

“You’ll get more bang for your buck if you do a renovation project and you do it relatively soon,” Roberts told the Summit County Council.

County Councilman Chris Robinson said he would like the library to include a café and outdoor reading area.

Robinson admitted he is struggling to appreciate the building’s architecture.

“I’ve struggled with the beauty of that little building, why we should preserve it,” he said.

Paul DeGroot, a member of the Summit County Historic Preservation Committee, said he hopes Summit County opts to save the building.

“Coalville has little enough. It deserves to save as much of the history as possible,” DeGroot said.