Library Board adds basement to plans for new library building

At its regular meeting July 11, the Belleville Area District Library approved allocating $312,000 from the owner’s contingency part of the construction budget to pay for adding a partial basement to the new library building that will be constructed on Fourth Street in the city of Belleville.
Building Committee chairwoman Joy Cichewicz said the original plan didn’t have enough storage space and it didn’t have enough space for the Friends of the Library and their used books. The Building Committee recommended the basement.
“It frees up floor space in the library by moving the utilities to the basement,” said architect Dan Whisler of the 2,080 square foot basement. He presented two layouts for the basement to the board and in the future a decision will be made on the final basement plan. It is intended to be in the area closest to the museum.
Board chairwoman Sharon Peters said the full board needs to know that they had full library staff input and the basement brings a lot of comfort to those who work there.
“This is a foundational change to create the kind of library we want to have,” Peters said.
Whisler said the owner’s contingency was $415,000, of the $13,503,440 construction budget. By removing the $312,000 for basement cost, there still is $103,000 left for future changes.
Whisler said if they didn’t spend 2/3 of the owner’s contingency money, they would have to cut the square foot cost to come up with the money for the basement.
He said the square-foot cost already has been lowered from $215 to $204, and, “We can have a very nice building at $204.”
“We can’t afford design at $196 square foot and would have to save money in the exterior design some way,” Whisler said, adding they would have to simplify the façade if they cut the square foot cost that low.
Whisler outlined the major changes made to the plans as they work toward construction drawings, including moving the administrative offices from the second floor to the main floor because of additional space freed up by use of the basement for building support items.
He also said the fireplace has been reoriented to increase storage for the meeting room, a conference room for 10 people was added next to the children’s story room, and the boundary was modified between the children’s room and staff space.
Also, the amount of shelves available for sales of books by the Friends was doubled from four to eight shelves, a door was added to the little garden, and a small tutoring room was added.
Whisler also said a real trend now is having a space to refill water bottles and that has been added at the water fountains.
He said the toilets will have 1.8 gallon low water usage. The waterless urinals were considered, but if not cleaned with bleach every day, there is an odor.
The Local History room was moved inside the building, away from the natural, ultraviolet light that could degrade historic documents, he said.
“We did not budget for vegetative roofs,” Whisler said. “It sure would be nice to be able to look out the window and see vegetation instead of rooftops.
“It would help reduce storm water runoff,” he said.
He said two, 900-square-foot areas are designed to allow bumping the building’s wall out in 20-30 years if expansion is needed.
Whisler said they started with 31,900 square feet and now are up to 33,220 square feet for the library.
Bad fill beneath site
Whisler said the recent topographical study reports that in the vicinity of the building’s footprint, the fill soils are not good. He said about six feet of soil is there that they cannot put the building on.
He said they could dig down six feet, remove the soil and bring in nice fill.
He said the bearing capacity is “less good” if they just make the footings deeper.
They will be working through that problem with the structural engineer to consider the ramifications, he said.
“We have to deal with that,” he said. “That’s just the nature of construction.”
He said the soil borings also show that they hit water at about five feet. He said essentially it is perch water over the clay.
Board member John Juriga asked if the digging would impact the museum next door to the site.
“That’s pretty sacred to us,” Juriga said.
Whisler said that is done all the time and is not a problem.
Whisler discussed the delay by Comcast of getting back to him with a cost for changes. They already have costs from DTE and AT&T. DTE said it takes six to eight months after it gets its fee to move the power lines.
A motion was passed to pay DTE its $205,027 and AT&T its $64,866.66 and go with Comcast as long as it’s within the budget.
In other business at the two-hour, July 11 meeting, the board:
• Discussed how design changes should be made and agreed major design changes and approval of contracts always comes to the board, and they trust the Building Committee to make other decisions. They discussed adding Michael Boelter and Deb Green to the Building Committee and heard Peters say, “We can talk about it next time.” Whisler said to just make sure the board’s expectations are clear because, “We want to avoid micromanagement by the full board”;
• Approved the engagement letter for Alan C. Young and Associates to audit the library financial records for the year ended June 30, 2017 at a cost not to exceed $7,425;
• Heard Library Director Mary Jo Suchy report that the library’s air conditioner is struggling again. She said she does not want to replace this unit since it will only be needed for two-and-a-half more summers, but she is not sure how much life it has left; and
• Was advised the library board meetings are recorded and shown on YouTube. A link is on the library website.