Lyme Pubic Library - Almost 100 years

Mention the Lyme Public Library, and most people will think of the the white clapboard building across the parking lot from the Town Hall.  The current building is actually the Library's third location, and it's history goes back to over a half a century before 482 Hamburg Road was built.

The Lyme Public Library  was founded in 1913.  Yes, Lyme has had a library for nearly 100 years. 

Its first location was on the lower floor of the Lyme Congregational Church.

By 1951, the collection had outgrown the  space in the church, and the children's collection was moved to the Lyme Consolidated School.

In 1967, the Library Board of Directors formed the Lyme Public Library Building Fund Committee to raise money for the construction of a new building.  The first library building was dedicated 40 years ago in 1971.  This is the building that everyone knows as the library.  It was expanded almost a decade later when the children's wing was added.

According to a leaflet published by the library, "Both the original Library and the newer children's section were entirely paid for with private funds raised from the townspeople and with money from the federal government under the Library Services Construction Act and then donated to the Town of Lyme."

The Public Meeting - Part 2

After Bruce Tuthill’s presentation, Dan Hagan opened the meeting for comments.  The following is not a transcript but a paraphrasing of many of the questions and comments and of the responses from Dan and Bruce.

The Old Town Hall

The oldest portion of the town hall was once the North Lyme Baptist Church.  The plans called for restoring the church and using it as a meeting room.

Q:  The capacity of the meeting room is 100 people.  Is that enough?

A:   For most meetings.  There are times when we may need a larger space, but in those cases other arrangements can be made.

Q:  Did you consider moving the church?

A:  Yes, but it would have cost too much to do so.

Q:  If you open up the ceiling in the church, won’t that cause problems with acoustics?

A:  It may, but the use of sound deadening materials would solve the problem.

Q:  Why not use the old church as part of the library.

A:  We can look at that, but the lot shape would make it necessary to build a long building parallel to the road.  It could look too much like a strip mall.

The Silo

The library design includes a silo off the children’s room.  It would be used for craft programs and story hours.

Q:  Would inside of the silo be a single story?  There won’t be anything like a spiral staircase in it.

A:  The silo room would be a single story.

Q:  How would the librarian at the desk be able to monitor activity in the silo?

A:  The silo is for story hour and craft programs, and there would be a library employee to supervise both activities

Energy Efficiency

Q:  The library faces south.  Are you planning to use solar energy or another form of green energy?

A:   The state calls for the project to follow LEED guidelines.  We will most probably use geothermal heating.  I (Bruce Tuthill) recently investigated solar power for another library, but it didn’t make financial sense.  The payback was 20 years – about the same time you would need to replace the system.

Q:  LEED has different levels.  Which one would we build to?

A:  The state requires we follow silver guidelines.  We are not required to be certified silver – that is an expensive procedure.

Q:  What would it cost to run the larger buildings? 

A:  It’s hard to say for certain at this point.  Of course larger buildings will cost more to run, but much of that may be offset by more energy efficient materials, building methods and HVAC systems.

Finances

Q:  How will the building costs affect the mil rate?

A:   It is too early in the project to make that calculation.

Q:  How will the town get the money to pay for the construction?

A:  The town will bond the amount.  We are also hoping the raise a portion of the costs through donations, fundraising and grants.

Q:  How much additional will be needed for furniture?

A:  An allowance for furniture is included in the cost estimate. 

Parking/site

Q:  Coming in and out of the parking areas between the buildings would be dangerous.

A:  Of course the plan for the entrances would have to be approved by the DOT.  A connector could also be added between the two parking areas.

Q:  What type of materials will be used on the parking areas?

A:   Part of it will have to be impervious materials, but the largest part will pervious to eliminate any run-off issues.

Q:  Would it be possible to have trees along the south side of the library parking lot to keep the cars cooler in the summer.

A:  Of course.  It is a good idea.

Q:  What will become of the Lyme Veterans Memorial?

A:  It will be moved to the “Green” between the buildings.

Library

Q:  How was the size of the library determined?

A:  We started with a critical needs list and then used state guidelines to determine square footage.  It is necessary to follow the state guidelines to apply for a library building grant.

Q:  Will the library need additional staff?

A:   There are currently at least two members of staff on duty when the library is open.  The design allows the library to be run with current staffing levels.

General

Q:  Will there be basements for storage under both buildings?

A:  There will be a basement under the children’s room of the library.  The current addition has a basement which is not used because of access problems.  The new design will open that up for storage.

Q:  What does the library cat think?

A:  She hasn’t raised any objections so far.

Comments 

• We don’t need new buildings and I hate your designs.
• I think it’s great that the library will finally have storage.  We have badly needed space for the book sale – one of our major fund raisers.
• It’s wonderful that the town is finally providing its employees with decent working conditions.

Whew!  Done.  If your question was missed and you want to add it or you wish to comment, please post below.

The Public Meeting - Part 1

There was a good turn out at the public meeting this afternoon.  Somewhere around 70 Lyme citizens showed up on a sunny spring day to find out about the progress on the plans for the Lyme Town Hall and Lyme Public Library and to offer their comments and suggestions.

First Selectman, Ralph Eno opened the meeting.  He spoke about how the current buildings were reaching the point at which they would no longer be of service to the community and how the selectmen felt it was their duty to develop alternatives for the town to consider.

Dan Hagan, Chair of the Town Campus Center Planning Committee, provided background on the project and introduced the members of the committee.  He turned the meeting over to the architect, Bruce Tuthill.

Bruce began with a brief outline of the problems with the current buildings.  He then described the various alternatives that the he and the committee considered. In all options, the former church portion of the town hall was to be preserved.  He supplied very rough estimates of costs to be used purely for comparison. 

1. Renovate and expand the two buildings - $3,846,000
   
2. Construct two new buildings and renovate the old church portion of the Town Hall for use as a meeting room. - $5,615,000
   
3. Construct a single building to house both the town hall and library and renovate the church for use as a meeting room - $5,882,000

Finally Bruce presented the conceptual design that the committee chose to move forward with, a combination of options 2 and 3 - renovate and expand the town hall and build a new library.  The rough estimate for this option was $4,977,00.  Bruce stressed that this was not a final number, since the details of the design had not been finalized.

Here are  copies of the drawings.  The first shows the site plan.

The next shows the floor plans.

The last drawing is Bruce's rendering of what the new library might look like from two views and of what the site would look like from Hamburg Road.

The drawings are frustratingly small, but a pdf file of all three is available from the town website http://townlyme.org/
or from this blog  .  Alternatively, copies of the drawings are available for viewing at the library. 

This ended Bruce's portion of the meeting, and Dan Hagan opened the meeting for comments and discussions.  The audience had good questions and interesting comments, but even bloggers have to eat and have social lives.  They will have to wait until tomorrow.

Watch This Space

Interest in the meeting on Saturday is growing.  For those who will not be able to attend, copies of the conceptual designs will be available on this site on Saturday evening along with a short summary of the meeting.

You can have the latest posts sent to you via email by clicking on the email option in the right sidebar and following the directions.

Mark Your Calendar

LYME CALLS PUBLIC MEETING FOR MARCH 19, 2011 TO DISCUSS TOWN HALL AND LIBRARY PROJECT

The Town of Lyme has scheduled a public meeting on Saturday, March 19, 2011 at 2pm.  The meeting will be held at the Lyme Consolidated School, and all citizens and residents of Lyme are encouraged to attend.

The Lyme Town Campus Center Planning Committee requested the meeting to update the community on the progress of the ongoing Town Hall and Library improvement project and to collect public comments and suggestions on the latest conceptual designs.

In addition to the committee members, Mr. Bruce Tuthill, partner in the architectural firm of Tuthill & Wells will be there to describe the design process and to present the conceptual designs.  Mr. Tuthill was hired by the Town of Lyme in November 2010.  He and his partner, Peter Wells, have designed several town halls and over 50 libraries in Connecticut.

The designs to be presented are conceptual, and it is important to have the opinions of the public before they are refined.  “Bruce came up with a number of excellent designs, and the committee has been very busy narrowing them down.” said committee chair, Dan Hagan.  “What we need at this point is to hear from the people of Lyme.”

 In addition to speaking at the public meeting on March 19, comments may be made through the project email address, lymetowncampus@gmail.com, on the project’s blog, www.lymetowncampus.blogspot.com, or by stopping at the Lyme Public Library.

The Town Hall Vault

Stop by the Town Clerk's office, and it is hard to miss the heavy metal door leading into a room lined with shelves full or books and document storage boxes.  This is the town vault. The vault is intended to protect town documents from fire, flood and other disasters caused by man or nature.  The current vault is 100 square feet.

A larger vault is one of the items on the top of the list for the Town Hall/Library project.
 

Since the 1960's the types of documents municipalities are required to maintain has been administered by the Office of the Public Records Administrator which is part of the  Connecticut State Library .  This office recommends a vault of a minimum of 400 square feet for a town the size of Lyme, and it would provide plenty of room for the future.