A new library is coming to the site of Denmark High School, but what may join it has not been determined.

On Tuesday, Forsyth County Commissioners discussed plans for the new library with Forsyth County Public Library Director Anna Lyle at a commission work session. Lyle said they were not going ahead with previous plans to add a synthetic turf field and sheriff’s office precinct, but said it was possible something could go there in the future.

“I think we’ve established at least in the short term that we don’t think another entity is viable on the remaining land, but there is the concern that in the future there might be,” she said.

The county purchased 9.5 acres in December and the library wants to build on about seven acres at a price of $108,000 per acre. The total price is about $4 million.

It was estimated that with the field, the project could have ranged from $6.3 million to $7.9 million.

“It was determined an athletic field wasn’t really financially viable,” said Brent Pierce with GreenbergFarrow Architecture, the firm handling the master plan.

Lyle gave commissioners a plan from Forsyth County Schools that would leave a rectangular-shaped piece of land open in the future. 

Kristen Morrisey, a member of the county’s library and school boards, said the project needs to make financial sense.

“It was a staff request that the remaining parcel be made more useable and we would like to honor that as a library perspective,” she said. “However, I would not rule out that if it got to be a financial burden on the library or the county, we could go back to the management of the county and say this is too expensive.”

A planned retention pond would need to be moved, along with other changes, for the request. 

Commissioners voted 4-0, with District 1 Commissioner Pete Amos absent, to postpone the decision until the library had final recommendation.