District Library: New building favored by people at special meeting

After another long discussion about three options for a library upgrade, people attending the Nov. 24 special meeting of the Belleville Area District Library Board seemed to favor constructing a new building in downtown Belleville rather than adding a new part to the present library building.
Retired Belleville architect George Craven said, “I think the public deserves something more than a building cobbled together.
“I’m responsible for one of these,” he said of a new building on an old building. He said he was in favor of a new building and tearing the old one down.
“I think the public deserves a lot better,” Craven said.
“The public deserves what they’re willing to pay for,” Dr. David Wilson said, adding, “We sure took a drubbing on that,” referring to the voter turndown of the proposed 45,000 square foot library on the lake.
Library architect Dan Whisler said the present library is 10,760 square feet and in 2005 consultant Anders Dahlgren gave an estimate of space that would be needed for the library of 47,000 square. There was an update to 48,000 square feet after that.
He said the 48,000 square feet got reduced to 45,000 square feet for the 2014 “drubbing” and so the library board has reduced the size of the new library to 30,000 square feet.
Whisler said he and Library Director Mary Jo Suchy and Deputy Director Hilary Savage sat down togethr and cut more than a third of what was intended for the 45,000 square foot building.
“We cut fat and then cut muscle and bone,” Whisler said.
He went over the cuts to make it fit into a 30,000 sqaure foot building. All three of the options now under discussion are the same size: 30,000 square feet.
On Dec. 4, the library board plans a field trip to the Dexter District Library to study a successful 30,000 square foot library.
Members of the audience asked what the new library would look like and board president Mary Jane Dawson said it was too early for that part of the plan.
“We’ll get to that in time,” agreed board secretary and building committee chairwoman Joy Cichewicz.
“I like option C,” said a woman in the audience, opting for the plan for a totally new building in the middle of Fourth Street. “It’s not like the present library is a 200-year-old building that has historic value.”
“Without knowing the cost, it’s too early to judge … and not knowing what it looks like,” said a man in the audience, who had questioned the architect in detail on the size of the building and the services.
Board member John Juriga said, “Right now we get 10,000 people in the library a month and we will get 30,000 once we enlarge.”
Board member Sharon Peters, who could not attend the meeting, sent a message that as chairwoman oof the Marketing Committee she is in the process of planning an event for Friday, Jan. 29, and for everyone to mark their calendars. She will explain more at the Dec. 8 regular board meeting.
Cichewicz explained that the Nov. 13 meeting with city officials was cancelled by the city because of a conflict and the meeting was set, instead, for Nov. 25 (the day after this meeting). The library officials hoped to get feedback from the city on whether Fourth Street could be vacated and other preliminary issues.
Cichewicz said they did share preliminary library dplans with the city and the DPW shared information on the utilities with the library architect, which was information the library didn’t have before.
Whisler said he had a telephone conversation with DPW Director Keith Tackett and he confirmed “what we thought we knew” and Tackett thought vacating Fourth Street was do-able. Moving utilities under Fourth Street was discussed, with water lines being easier to move and the sanitary sewer more involved.
Currently, the three library options being considered are: Option A for a new addition to the east of the present library; Option B for a new addition to the west of the present library; and Option C for a brand-new building in the middle of Fourth Street with the present library being demolished after the new library is built. Each option includes about 100 parking spaces.
Whisler presented a chart showing the estimated costs of preparing the land for construction, including land acquisition: Option A – $1,063,896; Option B – $419,982; and Option C – $1,091,751.
For Options B and C, moving the overhead electrical lines running down the alley to underground would be “highly desireable to essential,” at a cost of about $652,302 for Option B and $232,320 for Option C.
When board member Juriga asked architect Whisler which option he would choose, Whisler sidestepped to say it boils down to, “What do we think the public will support?”
“I don’t have a favorite. All are do-able and all have pros and cons,” Whisler said, adding they should choose “the one we think the community will support. Otherwise, we’re just spending time together.”
At the next meeting of the board at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 8, the bond counsel will be discussing options for bonds. The board is planning to put a question before voters in November 2016.