AVON — The Lorain Public Library System is inviting the public to attend any of three presentations to learn about plans to build a new $10.5 million, 30,000-square foot library in Avon.
Residents will vote Nov. 3 on two issues needed to fund the new library: a 25-year, $10.5 million bond issue, whose funds will be used to purchase the land and cover the construction, and a 2.31-mill operating levy that would replace a current 1.2-mill operating levy.
The levy would generate about $1.75 million a year to operate the new library. The bond issue would cost the owner of a $100,000 house $2.65 a month, and the levy would cost the same homeowner less than $3 more a month than the current levy, library officials said Thursday.
Lorain Library System Director Joanne Eldridge said she’s optimistic that the two issues will pass because Avon residents are supportive of their library.
Duane Van Dyke, president of Van Dyke Architects, points out features of the proposed library during a meeting at the current library. (Photo by Chuck Humel, The Chronicle-Telegram.)
“We’ve put our hearts into building something great for this community,” she said. “It’s a bargain in the long run. When they look at what we’re offering at the new site … there’s no reason they won’t want to be a part of it.”
The new library would be built at the site of the city’s planned complex of buildings on Detroit Road that already includes the fire and police stations and the new post office. It would offer a children’s area with a train station, town hall and gazebo play areas, a section for teens, a drive-up return area, up to four meeting rooms, a quiet study room, an Internet cafe, more than 30 computers, a small kitchen to serve the cafe and meeting rooms, an after-hours drive-up locker area for patrons who’ve ordered materials but can’t get to the library during regular hours, an outside reading garden and a larger collection overall of books, magazines and other library materials.
The proposed plans for a new library in Avon. (Photo by Chuck Humel, The Chronicle-Telegram.)
“We want to give the community what it wants,” Eldridge said.
Architect Duane Van Dyke of Van Dyke Architects in Cleveland said the current location is too small for expansion due in part to neighboring streets and commercial properties. He said Avon’s library definitely needs more room.
“Libraries are busier than ever,” Van Dyke said, citing North Ridgeville’s expansion from 5,000 square feet to 27,500 square feet.
That expansion allowed the library to grow from 180,000 circulations a year to 580,000 circulations a year. Avon currently handles about 250,000 circulations a year, and the library’s population is growing.
Van Dyke said that when the current facility was built in 1994, Avon had a population of 7,000. The city is now home to between 16,000 and 17,000 residents, about the same as Rocky River, which has a 75,000-square-foot library and handles about 1.4 million circulations a year, he said.
“There’s an untapped market here,” he said.
Plans aren’t yet finalized and can be changed according to public input, which library officials are hoping to get during the three public meetings scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Sept. 28 and 7 p.m. Sept. 29 at the library at 37485 Harvest Drive.
Contact Alicia Castelli at 329-7144 or acastelli@chroniclet.com.