A RENDERING OF THE design concept for the proposed $34 million Lynnfield Public Library project. (William Rawn Associates Photo)
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The proposed new $34 million Lynnfield Public Library is headed to Fall Town Meeting on Monday, Oct. 16.
The project includes a $9,077,464 provisional grant that the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) recently voted to award the town. The Library Building Committee (LBC) originally estimated that the new facility’s cost would be $21 million, which increased to $23.4 million last summer.
Porter recalled in a press release that the MBLC placed the Lynnfield Public Library project on the Construction Program’s waiting list in 2017 after the state agency agreed to award the town an $8,193,792 grant.
“The grant was finally given this year as one of the last library projects from the 2017 list,” Porter stated. “In addition to those funds, the MBLC has voted to award the project an additional $883,672 due to increased project costs related to the pandemic. This brings the total amount to $9,077,464 in funds available to build a new Lynnfield Public Library.”
If voters approve the library project at Fall Town Meeting on Monday, Oct. 16 and during a debt exclusion vote at a Special Town Election that has yet to be scheduled, the new library would be constructed on a portion of the Reedy Meadow Golf Course. The 2016 Fall Town Meeting approved transferring control of a 3.424-acre parcel of land located on the front of the Reedy Meadow Golf Course as part of the project.
Friends of the Lynnfield Library member Joe Gallagher, who will be joining the Library Building Committee (LBC) in the near future, said during an Aug. 31 LBC meeting that the golf course will remain open. The golf course’s barn will either be razed or moved. The Danforth House will also be razed to make way for the new library.
Porter stated that the “all-in” cost to build the new building includes $31 million to build the new library and $2 million to repair the current Lynnfield Public Library in order to repurpose it for a different use. She noted that the remaining $1 million will be used to “prepare the site at the Reedy Meadow Golf Course for construction.”
Capital Projects Manager John Scenna said during the LBC’s Aug. 31 meeting that “the Reedy Meadow site preparations have to happen” in order for the library project to move forward.
Due to the $9 million provisional MBLC grant, Porter stated that the tax impact will be based on $25 million as opposed to $34 million.
“This cost equates to $24.50 per month, $294 per year, for the average Lynnfield taxpayer,” Porter wrote.
Porter stated that a large number of community members have expressed interest in building a new Lynnfield Public Library.
“While undertaking our recent strategic planning process this year, we held community meetings and distributed a townwide survey, which clearly showed that the Lynnfield Public Library building is no longer meeting the needs of the Lynnfield community,” stated Porter. “Overwhelmingly, respondents to the survey said they wished they could use the library as meeting space for various groups and organizations in town. Many also said they wish they could use the library as a quiet place to read, work or study, specifically by using quiet study rooms.”
Porter noted that the survey’s respondents expressed concerns about the current library’s “lack of parking, the dark basement, the lack of space for teens, the insufficient number of accessible outlets and the difficulties of navigating the building with a stroller, walker or wheelchair.”
“The plan for the new building not only addresses all of these concerns, but provides so much more,” wrote Porter. “Equipped with more spaces and opportunities for the community of Lynnfield to connect, create and grow using multiple meeting spaces, up-to-date technology, outdoor spaces, increased programming and so much more, the Lynnfield Public Library will finally be a 21st century library and the community hub that community members have told us Lynnfield wants.”
William Rawn Associates is the library project’s architect.
Over the past three years, the town has appropriated $102 million for large capital projects. The public safety buildings and Town Hall project costs $63.5 million, the Lynnfield Center Water District’s capital program totals $20.5 million and the elementary schools’ expansion project cost $18 million. South Lynnfield residents are not paying for the LCWD project because that portion of town gets its water from the Lynnfield Water District.
The Board of Library Trustees, Select Board and Library Building Committee were scheduled to discuss the proposed $34 million library project during a joint meeting on Thursday, Aug. 24, but the meeting was canceled at the last minute. The three boards had yet to reschedule that meeting when the Villager went to press on Friday.
“In the next few weeks, we will be providing much more information about the new library building project, including more details about the proposed building,” Porter stated.
For more information about the library project, visit www.newlynnfieldlibrary.com or email Porter at aporter@noblenet.org.