September Public Meeting Summary Part II - The Library

This is part 2 of the summary of the presentation made by architect Bruce Tuthill at the September 16 town meeting.  It covers the library design.  For PDF copies of the designs, go to the September 16, 2011 blog post, or to the link on the right sidebar.

FLOOR PLAN

• The new design provides for 6311 square feet for the library and 456 square feet for the archives.
• Entrance is through a lobby which serves to keep cold air out in the winter.
• The book drop is off the lobby and is large enough to house items such as a snow shovel, a broom and sand.
• Patrons enter into the main area where the circulation desk will be directly ahead and display areas to the sides.
• While the library is larger than the current building, it is designed to be run without an increase in staff.
• The circulation desk is centrally located so that the staff can monitor the whole building.
• The office and technical area have glass windows.
• The reference section will have low shelves so that the stack can be seen from the circulation desk.

Adult Area

• There is a quiet reading area where the magazines and newspapers are displayed.
• A study room for 6 people can be used for small meetings, study groups, tutoring or for quiet work.
• A larger conference room will be used for larger meetings.  It is intended to be multifunctional, and will also be available to people working with materials from the archives.
• There are four computer stations with printers.
• Tables are available for study and for laptop users.

Children’s Room

• The children’s area is divided from the rest of the library by a glass wall with glass doors that may be closed to contain noise.  Noise is a particular problem in the current library.
• There is an entrance into the program room so that it can be used for children’s programs and crafts.

Program Room

• The program room will seat 70 people and is designed to be multifunctional.
• There is the entrance to the children’s room and a low sink so that the program room can be used for children’s activities.
• A kitchen will allow for refreshments.
• There is a closet to store tables and chairs.
• A door leads to a terrace for outside activities.
• The program room and toilets can be closed off from the rest of the library allowing for use outside normal library hours.

BASEMENT

• There will be a basement under approximately one third of the building.
• The basement will house the mechanical rooms and the IT room.
• The rest of the space will be used for storage including the books for the annual book sale.
• There is an entrance from within the building, an outside hatch for larger items, and a dumbwaiter for moving boxes of books and other heavy items.

ELEVATIONS

• The library is designed to have a barn-type appearance in keeping with the rural character of the town.
• The design has been kept simple to reduce costs.
• It will have vertical siding, and there will be low field stone walls at the front and by the terrace.
• It could possibly be painted barn red or white.

September Public Meeting Summary Part I - The Town Hall

Approximately 50 people attended the town meeting on September 16, 2011.  First Selectman Ralph Eno opened the meeting.  He explained that the town hall and library buildings are coming close to the end of their lifetimes and that as part of due diligence, the selectmen appointed a committee to come up with conceptual designs for new buildings.

The meeting was turned over to committee chair Dan Hagan.  He noted that changes had been made to the earlier plans using input from the March meeting and from other stakeholders.  He then turned the meeting over to the project architect, Bruce Tuthill.

Mr. Tuthill stated that the new plans were designed to provide adequate space for both the town hall and library without overbuilding.  Since the meeting in March, the size of the town hall had increased, and size of the library had decreased.

Mr. Tuthill began his presentation with a drawing of the site plan.  It showed the town hall, the library, and the school flanking an open space which was made up of the current playing field and the new “town green”

The next drawing was of the town hall floor plan.  Mr. Tuthill cited the role that the staff played in the design, by providing information on where space was needed and how things worked.  The addition will almost double the current size of the town hall.  The present building is about 2500 square feet.  The addition will be approximately 2400 square feet.

The following is a summary of the points Mr. Tuthill made in his presentation along with the his drawings.  Copies of the drawings may be downloaded in PDF format through the link on the right sidebar and from the blog entry for September 16, 2011.

OFFICES

·         All the offices have an outside wall to allow for natural light.

·         The offices of the first selectman, tax collector, assessor, town clerk, and the ZEO-building departments are grouped together close to the entrance.  This allows easy public access to the most used offices, and the staff members who work most closely are grouped together.

·         The town clerk has a line-of-site to the front door to monitor those entering the building

·         The office for part time employees is at the other end of the building.  They still share an office, but no longer have to share a desk.

·         The vault has changed location, but it will still be 400 square feet, the recommended size for a town of Lyme’s size.  The current vault is 100 square feet.

·         The center area houses the washrooms, a copy room, a small meeting room/lunch room, janitor’s closet, IT room (the server is currently in the assessor’s office) and access to the basement.

·         A storage room has access to the office area and the meeting room.

MEETING ROOM

·         The current church building will be turned into a meeting room.

·         There is an adjoining office for the registrar of voters so that the meeting room could be used as a polling place.

·         There is storage for tables and chairs.

·         There is a closet for AV equipment.

·         A small kitchen area will allow for coffee and refreshments.

·         The building is laid out so that the meeting room and the toilets can be closed off from the rest of the town hall.  This will allow the meeting room to be used outside normal business hours while providing security for the town offices.

BASEMENT

·         The addition will be built on slab.

·         The basement under the church building will continue to be used as the boiler room.

·         Improved access will allow the basement under the 1971 addition to be used for storage.

·         Repair of a leaky bilco door will remedy the current water problems.

ELEVATIONS

   
The front of the building will look much like the current building, since the addition will be on the back.

The addition will be in keeping with the current style of architecture.

The design will maintain the architectural importance of the original church building, and  the renovation will include all new siding and abatement of hazardous materials such as lead

Town Meeting

Thanks everyone who turned out this evening for the town meeting.  As promised, here are the PDF files of the boards you saw this evening.  Just click on the item you would like to see and the PDF will open in Google Docs.  The presentation slides are rotated 90 degrees, but you can view them by downloading the file to Adobe Reader.  If you do not have Adobe Reader, you can download it for free here.  If you are having problems, use the email address above or leave a comment on this post.

Site Plan
Town Hall Floor Plan
Town Hall Elevations
Library Floor Plan and Elevations
Presentation Slides

See you at the school tomorrow night

Don't forget that there is a town meeting on Friday, September 16.  The meeting is at the Lyme Consolidated School and will begin at 7:00 pm.

The project architect, Bruce Tuthill, will present the latest conceptual designs, and the project committee will outline the next steps in the process.  There will also be time for questions, suggestions and comments.

You are all encouraged to attend, since this is your chance to be involved in the design of these two important town buildings.  If you cannot make it, a summary will be posted on this blog as well as links to a PDF of designs and cost estimates.