Applause ended a special meeting of town council at Pelham Fire Station No. 2 in Fenwick last week.
After receiving a report on the Maple Acre library branch, council said it would consider an architectural design for a replacement addition to Maple Acre in its 2015 budget.
The meeting, ‑ involving town council, the Pelham Library Board and the Friends of the Maple Acre Library, ‑ listened to a working group report. The committee included representatives of the three groups.
The working group said the original 1919 Maple Acre building (eastern section of the library) was in excellent shape. The western section, a former fire station built in 1945, contained roof and other structural problems.
A new and larger addition along with the 500-square-foot original building could bring Maple Acre up to a 4,000-square-foot facility.
It’s the size for a library for Fenwick recommended by a 2009 consultant’s report.
It was a later consultant’s report that recommended eliminating Maple Acre as a library branch. The library board leaned toward making the move.
The idea, however, triggered a harsh reaction from Fenwick residents. It led to petitions to save Maple Acre and a resolution from council to retain library service in Fenwick. Council, the library board and Friends of Maple Acre created the working group last spring following a series of public meetings.
A new Maple Acre library would evolve past the current one.
As a “state of the art” library, it would be as flexible as possible, said Elizabeth Best of the Pelham Library Board and a working group member.
Maple Acre should accommodate continuing technological changes and should easily transform into multi-purpose facility.
“It’s a different way of looking at a library,” she said, “involving creativity and integration.”
The new branch could rent space to entrepreneurs to start businesses to raise revenue, as well as accommodate community groups in meetings rooms and students working with tablets on projects.
“Would it still have books?” asked one of the 40 people at the meeting.
Best said it would and much more. It would be “a learning commons.”
Mayor Dave Augustyn said the original section could become a town archives and as well as lend itself to restoration.
The fine condition of the building was a tribute to the community volunteers who constructed it in 1919, he said.
Chief administrative officer Darren Ottaway said “in a best case scenario” budgeting and preparation could be done in 2015 with construction in 2016.
The architectural design would help to determine the project’s cost, said Mayor Dave Augustyn, which currently is unknown.
Library board chair Maxine Gaylor said council will also have to consider the library board’s operating costs involved in a new branch, such as two full-time staff members.
Ward 1 Coun. Jim Lane said, the town could find $4-million for a downtown beautification project Fenwick did not ask for, so “surely it can find some for a library it wants.”
