By Jeff Lipton
It was a dream, said Arleen Reo, library dir-ector. We have to say it was not really realistic.
The library instead will concentrate on making its narrow driveway safer. The library board of trustees will work on creating an exit between the library and the school, so patrons would no longer have to use the same sing;e-lane driveway for entry and egress. It's unsafe with a single driveway, Reo said. We're going to shoot for an exit.
She said, I don't feel the door is closed entirely in negotiating with the school board for a safer lot. Requesting several feet of space from the Number One School for use as an exit instead of a third of the play area for a new parking field should satisfy the school board, Reo said.
At a school board meeting last month, the library board presented two plans for increased parking; one would have created a parking field in front of the Number One School and the other a field in back of the school. But both plans, each each estimated at about $400,000, were denied outright by the school district earlier this month. The library board needs school district approval for any changes to the site because the library building sits on land owned by the district.
In a letter to Michael Fried, library board president, Dr. Mark Rosenbaum, Lawrence schools superintendent, wrote: When we were approached by the library for permission to present a plan to improve access to the library, it was the impression of the Board of Education that we were looking at a simple access/exit solution, i.e. the addition of a single car driveway on the left side of the building.
Dennis Verriello, director of facilities for the school district, reviewed the two plans for increased parking and determined that based on the State Education Department Site Standards Selection Development of 1976, six acres should be the minimal number of usable acres for the Number One School, which currently has 3.6 acres. The library plans would have needed 29,575 square feet, or one-third of the existing play area.
The board does not envision that the state would entertain such a recommendation, Rosenbaum said in the letter.
The library board met on Thursday, Oct. 17, and decided not to fight the board for the increased parking, but rather focus on safety issues of the current driveway, where patrons now have to use one single driveway as an entrance and exit. If one car enters as the other leaves, one is forced to back up and sometimes that means the car entering must back up onto a busy Central Avenue as pedestrians and cars pass by.
Reo said the library board will attempt to enter into negotiations with the library for a driveway exit without any other accessories. She added that the $50,000 in state funding recently secured by Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) should cover the cost of the exit driveway. We will present plans on a smaller scale and then go to them [the school board], Reo said. To do that we would need some property [from the school], but we're not talking about one-third of the play area.
Right now we're just trying to improve upon the safety issue, she said. It's a liability if something happens.
The letter sent by the district to the library appeared to leave no room for dialogue for the expanded parking area, Reo said. We're still left with an unsafe physical situation.
The library board said the school board has not come up with any counterproposal after rejecting the library board's plans.
Several residents have written letters expressing their hopes for improved parking. I can't believe that, said Myra Shiffman of Lawrence when told about the school district's rejection of the plans. Why don't they want to cooperate with them. They are their neighbors next door. Yes, of course, I'm disappointed.
Robert Douglas, a member of the Redistricting Committee for the Lawrence schools, said one proposal discussed by the committee during the year would have been to convert most of the Number Five School in Cedarhurst into a new Peninsula Public Library after moving the school's students to the Number One School and Number Six School in Woodmere. Library officials have been seeking a new site for the library, since many believe the current building is totally inadequate.
Wouldn't that be wonderful? Reo said of the Number Five School proposal.
