Library Design Workshop

Published: 4/23/2003

Saturday, April 26th, a library design workshop will be held to obtain community input that will help ensure that this new facility reflects the interest of all stakeholders. The workshop will be held in the Presbyterian Church located at 21 Church Street, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. The public is welcome to join in this workshop and we ask, if possible, that you call 248-6275 to let us know that you would like to participate.

Over 130 stakeholders have been invited representing Library users and staff, Village businesses, Village officials, School officials and officers of Historic Pittsford. At this point we have had a strong response with over 60 people confirmed to attend.

The Town Board and the Board of Library Trustees want to provide residents with a facility that will enhance our ability to provide quality library services and serve as a gathering space in the community. To accomplish this, it was agreed that the best location was to rebuild the Library in its current location on State Street.

Given the decision to keep the Library in the Village location, the design workshop will concentrate on two specific questions. The first question will address what the new building will look like in terms of shape, size and style. This is important since the proposed building will be a 30,000 square foot two-story structure with a footprint of approximately 15,000 square feet. The Village Comprehensive plan calls for this building to be placed closer to State Street than the current building to create a more uniform street line of buildings.

The second question that participants will be asked to give design input on is how the new library will fit into the State Street setting. Included will be traffic flow on State Street, points of ingress and egress to the Library, buffering and screening of parking areas, landscaping amenities, as well as consideration of views from the Erie Canal.

To accomplish this work, the workshop has been set up in three stages. The first hour will be a series of presentations regarding the Library. This will include an overview of the history of the Library and the improvement process. Aaron Cohen, a leading Library consultant will present a discussion and definition of the 21st century library. The project architect will define some of the design issues, and Bob Corby, Village Mayor and local architect will discuss some of the Village architectural guiding principles. Finally our project design team will present some of the concepts and alternatives that have been considered including traffic flow and management plans, draft site plans and draft floor plans.

Following the presentations, workshop participants will break into groups of eight to ten people to discuss the project with specific concentration on the two design questions I referred to earlier. They will be provided with a wide array of pictures and maps to help them discuss and brainstorm the issues and will have an hour and a half to come to some agreement. This will be followed by a report from each of the groups on their recommendations.

In the months ahead, the project design team will use this information to guide development of schematic renderings for the new Library. Our goal is to celebrate our heritage through the development of innovative plans for a new Library that will preserve and enhance the charm and character of our Village center.

While we are pleased with the response we are getting to the number of people who will attend the design workshop, we also realize that many residents will not be able to attend. We will be preparing an overview of this meeting that will be shown on Cable Channel 12 beginning Sunday, May 3rd and will run for approximately two weeks. We will also be posting an overview of the information on the Town's web site that is located at www.townofpittsford.org

The improvement of our library is important to our community. Currently we lack many of the amenities that our residents are seeking. We know this because over 40% of our residents are using other libraries to obtain their library services. The library as a community gathering spot is an important concept and we want our residents to gather in the heart of their own community.

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