At the Evansville Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday, August 8,2005, Bridget Rolek, director of the Eager Free Public Library, presented two possible needs estimates depending on which estimate of Evansville population growth one accepts, the State of Wisconsin population estimates, or those of the Smart Growth Plan.
Both needs plans assume action in 2010. The lease of the post office is up in 2009. The owner of this property is Roger Berg. The library is intersted in seeing whether he would be willing to give them an option to purchase the property.
The rate of growth assumption is important since based on the state version of Evansville growth, the needs for the future building would be 14,721 sq. ft., where the current building is 6800 sq ft or 8000 sq. ft at $240 per sq ft or $1,920,000.
If one assumes the Smart Growth rate of population growth, the additional space needs would be 11,539 sq ft at a cost of $2,769,360 with the proviso that the current post office space may not be adequate for future expansion past 2025.
The question was asked whether a portion of the library would be separated out. Bridget did not think so. There was also the question of whether the Historic Preservation committee would even allow a addition to the current library that might be higher than the current two stories.
The Observer would like to see some discussion of possibly having a separate Internet reading room and childrens library with meeting space. The larger plan based on smart growth population estimates shows 14 terminals for internet use, and still only 1350 sq. ft for meeting space. The Observer would like to see more meeting space. All of this could be on ground floor, handicap accessible.
In a growing community it is possible for 50-75 people to want to attend a meeting. Currently anything over 20 becomes crowded at City Hall. The community likes to meet, whether it is for coffee, or discussion. The library expansion might be a good time to plan some space for meeting, an important role that the library has played in the past especially during the construction of the high school.
Anyway, this is a developing story. It is time to think of the possibilities. What do you think?
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And if the post office was to move and let the library purchase the property, where would the post office go??? Don't we have some empty buildings uptown that could be used for the library internet use???? Get some decent things done in this town, get another grocery store, another pharmacy, more drive thru restaurants. So we don't have to drive on by to go to Janesville or Madison to get a decent buy. Every thing is so expensive here if we do buy it at Ace or wherever, it's well worth the drive to go out of town. Give us something to stay in town for!!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree, I shop in Madison because I work there. The people of madison support the place I work and I in turn support the madison business's by shopping there. If I worked in Evansville my attitude would be more likely to shop here, to support the town where I work. How ever I will never, working here or not pay the prices that Piggly Wiggly likes to pass off as
ReplyDeletebargains. They are very expansive no wonder why people go out of town, and I never notice Woodman's employees standing around gossiping quite like you see at the Pig. We are way off the library topic, it is a beautiful building and I am glad to see it being used and am proud to have my tax dollars go to this worthy project.
Thank you to all who have posted your thoughts on the library project. Keep them coming! We're interested in what the community has to say on this topic.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to clarify a couple of things. First, all of this depends on whether or not we can purchase the post office building. We do not have any existing agreement with the owners, and it is entirely up to them.
Second, we need the OK from the State Historical Society as well as the Historic Preservation Commission for any addition because we are on the National Register of Historic Places.
This project is just an idea at this moment. Nothing is a done deal. We are simply planning for the future and taking the growth of Evansville into account. By 2010 the library will be quite crowded.
That having been said, our idea includes a large meeting room in any addition. I know that was one thing that Dick mentioned was needed. We have a tremendous number of meetings here, and some of them can get pretty crowded. I'm interested in any other suggestions anyone can come up with, including the community's thoughts on a computer lab and internet access. So please don't hesitate to post more ideas and suggestions for us.
Bridget Rolek
Library Director
This is not a new idea...purchasing the current post office building. This was an idea when the most recent addition was added. It might be advantageous to research the minutes of the Library Board during that era. I think moving the post office to the Ace Building is a great idea...look at the parking potential!!! And...it's like having the post office return to it's "roots"...almost...it was across the street years ago!...
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