This week 6,877 signatures of Renton residents were turned into the city clerk’s office in an attempt to halt the move of the downtown Renton Library over the Cedar River to Third Street.

Stuart Avery submitted the 400 initiative petition sheets to City Clerk Bonnie Walton Monday, culminating months of collecting signatures from all around town.

Avery is one of the representatives from the Citizens for the Preservation of Renton’s Cedar River Library, a volunteer effort committed to keeping the library over the Cedar River.

The petition is asking that any library improvements for a downtown library must occur at the existing library location, and not at any other location unless the alternate proposed location for a downtown library is approved by a simple majority vote of Renton voters.

Last summer the City Council voted to move the library to Third Street downtown next to the Piazza.

The volunteer group has been collecting petitions to halt the move ever since at retail stores, at both Renton libraries and by walking through neighborhoods.

“The campaign was difficult and would not have been possible without so many individuals taking time from their lives to help accomplish it,” said Avery. “However the support from the community was very encouraging and helped to snowball the effort forward.  I can’t begin to tell you how many “unincorporated” Renton residents wished they could have signed it. It illustrates how deep the feelings run on the issue of the library location downtown.”

Friday the signatures were to be delivered to the King County auditor.

Additional signatures were being collected by the group per the guidelines for initiative or referendum campaigns.

Even if the petition signature count falls short of the necessary number after the King County audit, Avery said he still views the public outcry as a winner.

“Sure the legal bite would be gone in that event, but I would expect our City Hall to view it just as seriously,” he said. “These people are voters, and there are elections coming.  Our city leadership should welcome and embrace this as a legitimate statement of public sentiment about the way they have legislated on this issue.”

To have their petition signatures certified by the King County auditor, the group must have gathered as many as 15 percent of the number of registered voters in the last general election.