Revised library plans revealed

Building plan: 14 percent smaller and 25 percent lower By Kathryn Braisted MILFORD — Members of the public were generally pleased with last Thursday’s presentation of the revised plans for the now smaller, cheaper and “greener” central Pike County Public Library. The new building plans were revealed by architect Fred Schwartz to an audience of more than forty persons at an Oct. 23 meeting in the Milford courthouse. After deliberating with 14 focus groups, reading newspaper editorials, and receiving suggestions and comments from the public, architectural review board and Milford Borough Council, Schwartz spent the last 15 months reworking the library blueprints. The layout of the building has been reduced by 14 percent, from 11,700 to 10,010 square feet, and the height has been reduced by 10 feet, or 25 percent. Window design has been changed from a large, single pane to a two-over-two pane, which Schwartz compared to those of the Hotel Fauchere. The windows will be “person-sized,” rather than extending in a flat expanse. Ivy-covered concrete walls were removed from the front of the building and replaced with a bluestone wall, and the redwood siding was replaced with greystone. The library’s walls have been slanted, and there is 50 percent less glass. A stone wall will run along the front of the property near East Harford Street, accompanied by lamp posts to match those throughout Milford. Associate director of the library board, Ed Brannon, opened the meeting, addressing the concern that the library is “too modern-looking” for historic Milford. Brannon said that according to architectural review board guidelines, new constructions should not “pretend to be historic, or duplicate historic buildings,” and should rather be a physical record of the time during which they’ve been constructed. When compared with the audience’s reception of the original library plan in spring 2007, the revamped library was much more popular. Nonetheless, Wendy Reading of Milford still has a grievance with the library, though she considers this design “the best.” Reading is concerned about the building’s parking lot, which will accommodate about 30 cars — cars that will produce exhaust and fumes that she says are detrimental to her health. “The library is going to affect my quality of life,” said Reading, whose house of ten years sits directly next to the library’s property on East Harford. “I could lose my privacy and breathing, I’m a lifelong asthmatic and am not fond of breathing in car fumes.” Schwartz told Reading that her situation will be looked into. Schwartz showed the audience a gable that would cover the pathway from Harford Street to the library’s front steps, an addition suggested by the review board. The architect had citizens raise their hands if they didn’t like the gable, and almost all forty-some hands waved in the air. He said the structure would still be submitted to the Board, but did not have to be constructed. The total cost of the library is expected to be $8.5 million, with $5 million attributed to the building itself. The remaining funds are split between the $800,000 land acquisition and $2.7 million worth in infrastructure, site work, landscaping, furniture, fixtures and information technology, fees, permitting and miscellaneous owner costs. Approximately $3.2 million has been raised so far from donations and local and state funding. Earlier that afternoon, the library board was presented with a $1 million check from state Legislator John Siptroth. According to chairman of the library board, Maleyne Syracuse, the expected operating cost for this library’s first year would be around $1.1 million, compared to the current library’s $700,000.