By: Mike Caputo
Library seeks village support
PPL set to unveil latest proposal for new facility in Lawrence
By Mike Caputo
The results of a November referendum demonstrated the public's support for the Peninsula Public Library's efforts to find a new facility, but library officials are now waiting for the Lawrence village board to join in the effort.
Library officials were set to present their latest proposal for a new facility at a village board meeting on Thursday.
"We would like to open discussions with [the board] with the reasonable hope that we can, in fact, accomplish this," said Joan Lepelstat, co-president of the PPL's Board of Trustees. "But we need some kind of feedback from them that they are willing to work with us on this."
Because the village owns the parking lot where the proposed library would be built, authorization from the Board of Trustees is the next major step toward the construction of a new facility. The proposal received a major boost in the November vote, which authorized the transfer of the PPL property from the Lawrence school district to the library. Ownership of the property gives library officials more authorization to secure government funding for a construction project.
Village trustees have remained mum on the library's plans to move from its current location. The topic has not appeared on a village board meeting agenda since the library last made a presentation in April 2007. Mayor Dr. Jack Levenbrown expressed hope that it would soon make it onto the agenda, but he did not offer a guarantee. Levenbrown said he hopes library officials raise the subject with the board during the public-comments sessions of village board meetings.
"We have to see if the majority of the trustees want to go forward, then we have to figure out what the purchase price would be, and then we have to see where to go from there," Levenbrown said.
The library originally planned to relocate to Lawrence's Zion Park, next to the municipal lot of the Long Island Rail Road station. At the time, trustees as well as residents raised questions about the loss of parking spots in the lot and green space in the park. The revised proposal, dubbed PPL in the Long Island Rail Road Parking Lot, envisions a new library adjacent to the park, which would not take away any green space.
Including the 30 metered on-street parking spots, there are currently 162 available places for commuters to park. Instead of reducing parking capacity, however, a new facility would actually increase the number of spots to 200, officials said. The construction crew would transform a parcel of undeveloped land within the municipal lot into new parking spaces.
There is enough undeveloped land available to create 38 more spots, officials said. If the plans come to fruition, Lepelstat said, the library would request 38 spots for patrons, leaving the original 162 for commuters.
According to Lepelstat, the new plan addresses all of Lawrence village board's previous concerns: a decrease in municipal parking, ownership of the current library property and preservation of green space in Zion Park. "The arguments were valid ... but we have solved everything that they posed to us," Lepelstat said.
Construction of the PPL's new driveway, meanwhile, will begin soon. The library board has authorized Cameron Engineering to follow through on the driveway plans, which were drawn up when the facility was granted a land easement with the sale of the Number One School property in July.
Thursday's village board meeting is scheduled for 8 p.m. in Village Hall.
Comments about this story? MCaputo@liherald.com or 516-569-4000 ext. 210.
