At the meeting of the Permanent Municipal Building Committee (PMBC) on August 2, the Library Planning Committee and the Board of Library Trustees presented their recommendation that the town pursue further study of the site at 207-195 Main Street (the site of the former Highway Garage and the School Department parcel on either side of the driveway entrance to the Middle School) as the location for building a new public library. The PMBC accepted this recommendation unanimously.
Much work will be done over the next month by Tappé Architects, the design team for the Library Planning and Design Study that was approved by voters at Town Meeting last fall. The architects will conduct topographical surveys, geotechnical tests, and initial traffic review; they will generate initial building designs and cost estimates. They will also work with other Town boards, notably the School Committee and the Recreation Commission, to explore other town functions that might also be accommodated on the 6.7 acre site. If the site proves suitable for a library, the Trustees will present the site, with the initial designs and cost estimates, at a community forum for public comment in the fall. The Trustees may then submit an application to the state for a Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program grant. If Wayland is awarded a grant, the state would pay approximately 45% of eligible construction costs.
The site recommendation marked the culmination of a long and careful consideration of many different ways and places to expand the Wayland Free Public Library, which has long been crowded on its current site at 5 Concord Road. The Library Planning Committee spent eight months studying sites and needs before recommending that the Trustees ask for funds for an official Library Planning and Design Study at Town Meeting last fall. Voters supported that request overwhelmingly (378-49). Since then the Tappé team has conducted three visioning sessions with the community (including one with teens) and a town-wide survey to learn what residents want to see in a new or expanded library. They conducted preliminary studies at 5 Concord Road and 207-195 Main Street, as well as at 202 Old Connecticut Path, an undeveloped site that was part of the former Paine Estate. A second round of investigations put the Concord Road and Main Street sites in a head-to-head comparison with concept drawings that were presented in a public forum on July 26. After a careful quantitative analysis of many weighted factors, the Main Street site emerged the clear winner.
The actions of the Library Planning Committee, the Board of Library Trustees, and the Permanent Municipal Building Committee remove the town’s current Library site from consideration for Library expansion at this time.
“We struggled hard with this decision,” says Aida Gennis, Chair of the Board of Library Trustees. “We all love our beautiful 115-year old library building at 5 Concord Road, but over the past four months we have become aware of the site’s serious shortcomings and constraints. The 1.02 acre site is very small, difficult of access, with a history of flooding. Even a small expansion on this site would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, because of parking requirements, wetland issues, and the strict aquifer protection bylaw. We could not find a solution that would preserve the historic character of the building and give us anywhere near the space we need. We are convinced that we need to look elsewhere for the future of library services in town, and we are excited to see what the site near the Middle School might have to offer.”
The Board of Library Trustees will continue to update the town on developments as they arise. For more information, please contact Aida Gennis, Chair, Board of Library Trustees at wgs3155@gmail.com or Ann Knight, Director, Wayland Free Public Library at aknight@minlib.net
— submitted by the Board of Library Trustees
It would be nice to have the library closer to the Junior High School, High School, Loker School, & Happy Hollow School… a more vast number of students would be able to use the Library. It is within walking distance for Middle School students and also for other students via School bus’s that even at this time commute students between these same schools during the End of day trip home, or after school activities…Claypit Hill school students would lose out a bit, but even now the Library is not within or with a safe walking route or distance from school to Library….A word of caution though there are area’s that would not be suitable for building or even disturbing the ground in parts of these parcel’s…. A former Dump site sits beneath the Junior High school driveway and grounds on either side of the pavement… This was a old time “Dump” not a Sanitary Landfill, and was never Capped the way most people understand Dumps or Landfills have been in the last 40-50 years… The Surface Water persons found out about this back a few years when they tried to Dig a surface water runoff swale to help prevent run off from the school parking lots into the Dudley Pond… Within a couple feet they were into finding remnants from the Dump and had to stop…. At the former Highway building there are areas that would have to be of concern too… Former Fuel tanks used to fuel the vehicles, Salt storage area ( although this part would be of a less concern), Calcium storage tanks which are still on site, and they also stored Kerosene on site too. The Fuel storage and Kerosene storage were removed long ago… With care and some work too restore the site though I think this would be a good place for the Library with ample room for the Council of Aging too….”The Young and the Not so Young, need to be within the same. Life, Learning Development”..