Sherborn Selectmen Have Concerns About Library's Plans For Renovation

The chairwoman of the Sherborn Library Board of Trustees Stacy Brandon and library director Elizabeth Johnston explained their desperate need for renovations to the 40-year-old library at a meeting of the Sherborn Board of Selectmen, on Thursday.

The largest concerns, according to the library heads, are that the building codes are outdated by almost a decade, the building is not handicapped accessible, and its current size does not fit the needs of the town.

Brandon explained that the only reason the library is currently allowed to operate with outdated building codes is because they are on file as seeking funding to bring the building up to code.

Both Johnston and Brandon had remarked at their previous presentations to the selectmen that circulation and visitors at the library have increased over the past few years. 

Currently the library has used up its $60,000 in grant money that they received over a year ago in architectural design. 

If their warrant article is voted into the 2011 town warrant, it will allow the library trustees to go ahead with their plans to renovate and expand the library.

The library trustees recently submitted a grant application to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

If they are picked as one of the ten communities, out of the thirty-five that have submitted applications, the grant will fund fifty percent of the cost of the renovation project.

Even if they win the grant, it could take up to two year for the project to break ground.

Brandon said the estimated cost for their plans would be a little over $6 million, with a nine percent cost increase factored in. With additional federal funds that will come for planning to erect an energy efficient building and the $1 million they hope to get from private fund raising, Brandon said, “Maybe the town will pay $2.5 million. We’re hoping it will be less.”

After hearing the details, chairman of the board of selectmen Paul DeRensis said, “We have not voted to approve this design” and added, “We have been getting memos with issues relating to this design.”

He pointed out that the new library would have a 150-person auditorium, but their plans for adding 40 spaces to the parking on the municipal campus would only bring parking space to a little over a hundred.

Selectmen Tom Twining stated that he does not believe that the current parking design would be a sustainable solution for the next 40 years. 

DeRensis said people have voiced concerns to him that when the parking designs were being drawn that the architects did not include use by the other municipal buildings. They were also concerned that the library trustees were assuming that the town government would address the optimum parking problem themselves.

Brandon replied, “We need the town to help. We don’t have the resources. We can’t pay our architects.”

She then asked why they didn’t add a new parking design when the new police station was designed. 

Twining said that was indeed a mistake and one they would not like to repeat. 

DeRensis stated that the town would like the library trustees to add more parking spaces and a new septic system that all the municipal campus buildings would be attached to.

He added, “We don’t want to vote against it,” and later added that the $2.5 million will be the town’s money and all the work they have put into their grant application and design of the project is not as important as the perception of the voters.

DeRensis suggested that they add the parking and septic system components to their warrant article.

Johnston said that the article is symbiotic with the language of their grant, if the language of the article changes they will definitely lose the out on the grant. 

Former selectmen Jim Murphy suggested they present this article as “the core” of what they plan to do at Town Meeting and explain that they still have two years to get these plans perfected.