In a recent Library Building Committee Public Forum, William Rawn Associates Architect Kevin Bergeron told the audience that the Library Building Committee will adjust the new building’s cost proposal by at least $3 million.
Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) approved the Lynnfield Public Library’s request for an extension to use its $9 million provisional grant provided to build a new library after the Select Board voted on it earlier this month. The extension will be valid until Tuesday, April 30.
“Since the Town Meeting, we have looked at our specifications and our cost estimate,” Bergeron said. “We have found between $2 million and $3 million that we feel very comfortable can be pulled out of the project. We are talking about something that has a $22 million or $23 million cost to the town.”
Residents voted against the grant during last fall’s Town Meeting. LBC Chair Russell Boekenkroeger told the forum that the article required a two-thirds majority to pass. While 293 residents, a simple majority, voted to accept the grant, 230 rejected it, and the article failed to pass the two-thirds threshold.
“We have been looking at Town Hall, the existing library, Centre Congregational Church, and, more importantly, the Meeting House,” Bergeron said. “Those buildings have white clapboards and black trim on the windows. We are going to study making the building more opaque as opposed to glass. We want a building that fits in with Colonial Lynnfield.”
The LBC’s decision to host forums to provide information about the project was made to give the residents a platform to discuss and debate the idea. Boekenkroeger said that the committee wanted to get everyone’s “input.”
“We are here to listen,” Bergeron said. “Your feedback is going to be very valuable to the process.”
The library project can be voted on for the second time in a Special Town Meeting if the LBC collects 200 signatures in favor of the meeting. If the project is approved during the special meeting, a debt exclusion vote will be taken during the town’s election in April.
