By Jeff Lipton and Karen Rice
Plan One, which is favored by the board, would increase parking by 76 spots and reconfigure the property with a newly-created parking lot off to the left side of the Central Avenue library and in front of the neighboring Number One School building and ballfield. Under this arrangement, the school would be allowed to share the lot with the library. The plan would have a large entrance and exit on Central Avenue.
I considered basic library usage all over the country and the square footage of the building [to determine the number of parking spaces needed], said Robert Burgess, chief engineer of the Melville-based engineering firm of Fay, Spofford & Thorndike, which conducted a study of the library's parking and presented the three plans to the library board on July 25.
The Lawrence school district, which owns the land the library sits on, has been reluctant to part with any school property for library use, even though the library is in desperate need of more space and the current lot, according to police officials, poses a serious hazard to motorists and pedestrians. The boards of both the library and the school have recently opened negotiations in a bid to solve the library's parking dilemma. The library has been operating with 22 parking spots in the rear of the building and patrons have been forced to use a one-lane entrance and exit that can fit only one car at a time. If two cars attempt to exit and enter at the same time, the exiting car is forced to back up.
Under Plan One, the library would keep the rear lot for staff use only and the hazardous one-lane driveway would remain in use. In addition, some play areas of the school might be relocated, but the main playing field would remain intact.
The cost of reconfiguring the lot would be roughly around $300,000, Burgess said. State Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach), who has been concerned about the dangerous parking arrangement, said he recently secured an additional $200,000 in aid for Lawrence Public Schools, through Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, for support of their efforts to improve and enhance their educational program for 2002-2003. But Weisenberg said he wants to earmark $50,000 of those funds to address some serious safety hazards that currently exist at the Peninsula Public Library. He said the library serves more than 14,000 cardholders and the entire school district of more than 32,000 students.
The existing single-lane parking lot driveway poses a hazard to those who frequent the library or travel on busy Central Avenue, the assemblyman said.
More than $10,000 was allocated to complete a feasibility study to detail how to improve access to the library while making the facility safer for pedestrians and motorists.
Under the favored plan, two handicap parking spaces would be moved as close as possible to the entrance. In addition, school buses would be brought further away from Central Avenue towards the school. Also, the plan would include two additional basketball courts for the school.
Plan Two, which received the least support from the library board, would create 60 new parking spots, which Burgess said is the bare minimum, bare bones. The parking entrance would remain the same as it is now with parking spots in the rear of the library and extending in front of the ballfield. The driveway exit would be located between the school and the ballfield, raising concerns about the potential danger to students who wanted to cross from the school to the field. Plan Three would have the same setup as two except the parking would be located in back of the ballfield. These two plans would mostly allow library patrons to use the lot. It would also include two additional basketball courts but the play area might have to be relocated from behind the school to Central Avenue.
Library officials have been forced to reconfigure their grounds after District 15 voters rejected a $7.96 million bond issue for construction of a new library on Rockaway Turnpike in Cedarhurst in 1997. A search for new land to house the library has been unsuccessful.
The three plans still need to be touched up before they are presented to the Lawrence school board for approval.
We will present the plans to the school board and ask them to consider them, said Arleen Reo, library director. Clearly, all three of them will take some property [from the Number One School]. I can't imagine making any more space [on library grounds].
I have hope because I think it's a win-win for us and the school for them to do this, she added. But clearly the parents and the PTA don't feel this way.
The board said it is hopeful to develop a plan that [we] can present to the school board, a plan that will benefit the entire community.
