By:Andrew Coen
Kathy Raquet, president of the Lawrence school board, revealed at the Dec. 21 board meeting that she would like district taxpayers to decide whether the board should set aside a 100-by-280-foot parcel of the property for the library. If a referendum is put before district voters and passed, the expansion project would include a 250-seat community auditorium for lectures, meetings and theater; space for additional computers, printers and copy machines; quieter study areas; a larger reading area; and a separate children's program area, according to library officials.
If the public approves the proposition, it would then be up to the library to plan its own bond and to get taxpayer approval to pay for the costs of the expansion, according to Joseph Fuller, president of the library's board of trustees. Fuller said it is not known how much the expansion would cost.
Raquet revealed the board's intention to offer a referendum for the property after it was suggested by Arnold Rosenbaum, co-chairman of the Lawrence Association's Library Committee, during the meeting. "That's what our intention is," Raquet said after Rosenbaum suggested a public vote on the library's expansion. "I would like these children and their parents to make that decision."
The school board voted to close the Number One School last June as part of a consolidation plan to save the district money, and since then the board has been trying to determine what to do with the property. According to Raquet, an appraisal of the Number One School property and of the parcel the library is requesting is expected to be completed by the end of the week, and there will likely be a presentation on the findings at the Jan. 11 school board meeting.
"Let the community make that decision when they are informed of how much the property is worth," Raquet said.
During the meeting, she estimated that the 100-by-280-foot parcel may be worth around $1 million, but she later said that the number was simply an estimate from a friend who knows about appraisals.
According to Raquet, although some school board members have indicated support for the referendum, the full board has yet to go public with an official position.
If the expansion of the library were added as a proposition, it would be the second time in seven years that District 15 residents would vote on whether to improve the current building. In 1997 voters rejected a $7.96 million plan to construct a new library building on Rockaway Turnpike in Cedarhurst.
According to Raquet, the school board plans to meet with its attorneys this month to discuss whether it can combine the referendum for the library expansion with a proposed bond or mini-bond to address the district's capital needs, or if they need to be separate propositions. The board had originally discussed holding a public vote on a bond or mini-bond before the May 17 school board elections and budget vote, but Raquet said the trustees are now leaning toward holding the vote on the referendum on May 17 to save the district money. Staging a vote costs roughly $15,000.
Arleen Reo, the library's director, said that she supports the referendum idea. "It would be wonderful for the community at large to come out and support the library, which I believe we would have," said Reo. "It would be the community's decision, which would be a fair decision."
Fuller said in a phone interview that although the library board has not met to formally discuss the possible referendum, it would have a good chance of passing. "Based on what I'm hearing, [it should pass]," said Fuller. "I think we stand a better chance with the community than with the school board."
Before Raquet revealed the board's likely intention of holding a public vote, Ron Goldman, president of the newly formed Community Action Committee of the Peninsula Public Library, questioned whether the board really wanted to see the library expanded. "The question is not whether you can do certain things, but what the public wants to know is whether you want to," said Goldman, raising his voice at the Dec. 21 meeting and drawing loud applause from many audience members. "Where there is a will, there is a way. and where there is no will, you will never find a way."
Goldman and other library supporters handed out pamphlets containing information about the importance of the library expansion to the entire board. The pamphlets were in the process of being mailed out to all District 15 residents.
Many of the library's problems stem from what patrons say is a dangerous driveway, with a narrow strip of land being used as both an exit and entrance. The proposition would include improvements to the driveway as well as the current building. In October 2002, the school board rejected two plans for increased parking for the library.
Another proposal discussed by the Library Committee in 2002, which never materialized, was to convert most of the Number Five School, in Cedarhurst, into a new public library after moving the school's students to the Number One and Number Six schools in Woodmere as part of a consolidation plan. That plan was also abandoned.
Comments about this story? ACoen@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
