With plans to expand its parking lot already under way, the City of Poughkeepsie’s Adriance Memorial Library is beginning to prepare for the next two phases of its expansion plan. Members of the library board held forums this week to field questions from local residents.
Executive Director Tom Lawrence of the Poughkeepsie Public Library District spoke of local libraries as “the people’s university” at a public forum on Dec. 6.
“The library should be a place where people want to be,” he said. “A place for both intellectual and recreational discourse.”
An evident lack of space, increasing number of checkouts and limited technology all signaled the need for renovation in the city library. The seven open-access computers at Adriance Memorial have difficulty sustaining the influx of city residents who come for technological resources, according to Lawrence. Plans for expansion include increased computer facilities, local history and genealogy references and a greater variety of foreign-language texts on library shelves.
The plan will keep the historic building-front of the Adriance Memorial Library on Market Street intact, with necessary structural renovations. A majority of the growth will extend behind the building and upward from its top level.
The completed Adriance Memorial Library, according to current plans, will span four floors, bringing the building from its current 20,000 square feet to 37,000. An elevation from the present rooftop and a light well are among blueprinted architectural changes.
Lawrence emphasized the library board’s decision to keep the historic landmark intact.
“We’re preserving a jewel of Poughkeepsie,” said Lawrence. “It’s possibly the most ornate building in the city. But what’s really going to draw people is what’s inside.”
Community meeting space has also been allotted in the plans for expansion. Area groups and services, in the modified building, will have available program rooms for events, more than doubling the amount of current usable space.
Plans for a new branch, Southwood, are in developmental stages to extend Poughkeepsie’s library environment. The proposed 30,000-square-foot building, positioned between Locust Grove and the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery on Route 9, seeks to provide the suburban community with a convenient, accommodating branch, according to Lawrence. Its placement amid significant area landmarks adds to the location’s appeal.
“We’re hoping the Southwood branch can form synergies with Locust Grove and the proposed Greenway Trail,” said Lawrence. Plans for the new location include all-around parking access, two full floors and a walkout basement. The new branch would sit 1.7 miles from Adriance, enabling library-goers to easily move between sites. According to the plan, the Arlington branch of the district will be closed when Southwood is completed.
Poughkeepsie resident Harvey Flad expressed concern at the Dec. 6 forum. “Rather than open another branch,” he said, “why not use Adriance as an opportunity for redevelopment in the neighborhood?”
“The goal is for all citizens to have both kinds of access,” responded Lawrence, who noted that Adriance currently draws half its patrons from the City of Poughkeepsie, and half from the town. The new site anticipates similar usage.
“Among the board’s criteria (for the new development) was that it would be public transportation accessible, so that everyone can reach both city and town locations.”
On Wednesday, Dec 14, the library district will hold a scoping session at 7 p.m. in the Mid-Hudson Auditorium, 105 Market St, Poughkeepsie. The purpose of that meeting will be to review the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement for the expansion plan. This will be an open meeting, where the public will have an opportunity to give input on the potential environmental impact of the planned expansion.
The session will provide renderings of the proposed construction at both sites. Community input at this time is welcome, and will aide the library board of trustees in drafting an Environmental Impact Statement for the planned expansion.
Lawrence said that final scoping and development for the expansion of Adriance Memorial Library and the proposed Southwood location are scheduled for completion by July 2006. Provided everything goes as scheduled, the expansion will then be put into a referendum and voted on during the next general election in November 2006.