By Andrew Coen
Construction of a library in Zion Park, with more space for parking, a driveway entrance and exit as well as an expansion of programs, was first proposed last May, and since then, PPL officials have been working with the Lawrence firm Cameron Engineering to come up with a feasible plan. The park, next to the village's Long Island Rail Road station, is named for former Lawrence Mayor Irving Zion.
The current library building, at 280 Central Ave. in Lawrence, was built in the early 1960s. It has only one narrow driveway on the east side of the building where cars both enter and exit, creating the potential for serious accidents, according to library officials. The facility also has limited parking and is too small to expand certain services, officials said.
The proposed library would be a 27,000-square-foot, two-story structure - twice as large as the current facility - that would be situated at the northwest corner of the Park. The current library totals 13,500 square feet and is ranked the smallest in the county by the Nassau County Library System.
PPL officials, who first presented plans for a new library at Zion Park at the Lawrence village board meeting last summer, attempted to address some concerns raised by some of the trustees, which included reducing the village's green space and diminishing parking for residents. In the latest plans, the library would be re-sited, using the paved area of the park as the cornerstone for the building, which would limit the facility's coverage of park green to a little over 2,000 of roughly 40,000 square feet of grass, or 5 percent, according to PPL officials. The new facility would also not impact the park's current playground, which encompasses 2,970 square feet, according to village officials.
"[The library] is literally almost entirely outside the park green space," said Kevin McAndrews of Cameron Engineering during the presentation.
The latest proposal would also reconfigure the village municipal parking lot and traffic flow to create perpendicular parking spaces, which would increase the number of spots from 162 to 166, not including on-street parking in the vicinity of Zion Park. "We've minimized any negative impact that relocating might have on the village," said PPL Trustee Joan Lepelstat in a speech to the village board at the meeting.
Lepelstat also spoke about the many positives that a library relocation would bring, like increased security in the park due to better lighting, additional pedestrian activity, an improvement in the existing landscape and maintenance of the park. She said the PPL has had discussions with officials from the LIRR to discuss upgrading the adjacent Lawrence station and met with Nassau County officials about placing a police kiosk close to both facilities.
"Perhaps the most important benefit to all residents will be the transformation of an underutilized, somewhat dangerous and unsightly park into a vibrant civic and cultural center, in keeping with the other superior facilities scattered throughout our beautiful village," said Lepelstat.
The meeting featured a relative crowd of 16 village residents, a large showing compared with those of previous board meetings, and many voiced support for the new plan and the need for a new library. "Everybody uses the library," said David Urbach. "It's across the board."
PPL officials also pointed out that the village could stand to receive more revenue as a result of a more often-used parking lot. The village would also receive additional tax revenue if a commercial property took the place of the current PPL facility.
In order for the new library to become a reality, the Lawrence school board, which owns the property at the current PPL facility, would need to agree to sell or lease the building, and PPL officials hope that some of the proceeds would be used to fund the move to Zion Park. The school board is currently soliciting bids through its brokerage firm, Greiner-Maltz, on the 3.79-acre Number One School property, but has not yet included the library in its advertisement of the land. Village trustees would also need to agree to sell or lease Zion Park to the library.
Library officials have tried for years to expand their building, but have hit roadblocks because of a State Education Department law that prohibited the Number One School from losing any playground space. Since the school was closed by the school board in June 2004 as part of a consolidation plan to save the district money, library officials have lobbied for expansion, but have been unsuccessful because of the projected high value of the property. Voters also defeated a 1997 referendum to build a new library on Rockaway Turnpike in Cedarhurst.
Comments about this story? ACoen@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
