Jones Library may purchase land behind them from Amherst Historical Society
Last week Jones Library Director Sharon Sharry updated the Finance Committee about plans for the Library expansion/renovation, and this morning added the Joint Capital Planning Committee to the list.
The Library project is maybe just a step behind the $65 million Wildwood School Building Renovation project. Fortunately both the Schools and Jones Library have the advantage of state money covering half the costs.
The ornate bank building next door, owned by Barry Roberts, is off the table as an acquisition for the expansion as is Central Fire Station. The bank building, with an assessed value of $2.3 million, would be cost prohibitive and taking it off the tax rolls would only add to that cost year after year.
And the Fire Station will hopefully be sold to a private developer to help finance the new South Fire Station with an expanded mixed use building springing up in its place.
Cramped Central Station opened in 1930 when emergency equipment was a tad smaller
Knowing that four major building projects totaling upwards of $100 million in town money are now being talked about, the Library Director assured the JCPC, "We will renovate as much as possible, expand as little as possible, to keep the price as low as possible."
Sharry said the Library is also seeking Historic State Tax Credits that could result in a few million towards the construction costs.
CVS lot behind Jones Library could become site for new parking garage, which would solve library parking concerns
5 comments:
One solves problems, not concerns. There's no Jones Library parking problem, and no need for another garage.
I don't understand your headline. The library's not little it's big. And the expansion is not little, it's big and costly.
How can #1 "educate about the need for renovations" be ongoing while much of the rest is complete? I'm not sure the town even agrees that we need these renovations, but they've already got the architect lined up. Who is driving this process? Trustees? It will never fly...most people love the library as it is, which serves the needs of the community.
Extracted from the town's "open checkbook" below are the 2015 annual salaries of library employees. Have the trustees discussed whether a larger library would require a proportionate increase in employees?
87,908.92
72,398.03
69,836.63
69,517.90
66,421.46
56,703.46
56,545.67
56,103.68
54,788.50
54,617.41
53,881.14
53,719.01
52,724.07
51,162.67
50,142.34
48,361.28
43,330.89
42,447.81
42,024.20
39,803.77
39,588.39
35,373.26
33,892.12
33,112.15
32,932.88
30,842.54
29,382.69
29,169.29
23,936.28
10,078.95
Total: 1,420,747.39
I believe they did discuss it and the answer was "no."
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