PORT TOWNSEND – The dream of an expanded and renovated Port Townsend Public Library edged closer to reality for city residents on Wednesday when they were invited to meet with the architect and library staff to inspect the design.
“People were very pleased to see these plans,” said Library Director Theresa Percy during the open house from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
“They are very excited about having an extended library with a lot more room.”
People trickled in throughout the open house to look at Seattle architect James Cary’s model of the renovated building and view architectural sketches for the library which boasts the second highest per capita use in the state.
About 35 people attended a 6 p.m. presentation by Cary, who has worked with the Port Town send Library plans since 2006.
“This is a great project,” Cary said.
“We are building a library that has all the things that people want here.”
The new design seeks to preserve the old Carnegie building in which the library is sited at 1220 Lawrence St., while renovating the interior and tearing down a previous addition to construct a new building that will take up an entire block behind the current library.
The new building and the old will be linked with the Charles Pink House to create a library campus. It will increase the size of the library to nearly 30,000 square feet — double its current size, Percy said.
Cary said the centerpiece of the new library will be a large reading room with a fireplace, to replicate the way the library looked when it first opened.
It also will be designed in such a way that “quiet spaces will be separated from noisy spaces” and the staff will be close by to help library patrons.
“One of the things we’ve heard over and over is how much people like the staff here,” Cary said.
Percy said she would like to open the new library with a ribbon cutting in October 2013, the 100th anniversary of the original library’s construction.
This is an attainable goal, said Port Townsend Public Works Director Ken Clow, who estimates the whole construction process, permits and financing included, will take about two and a half years.
During construction, the library will never actually close — aside from short periods when the collections will be moved from one room to another, Cary said.
It will be put out to bid to contractors later. The date has not been determined, Cary said.
The timing depends on financing the $9 million project, funding of which is more than half-completed, Percy said.
Funds already pledged or received include $750,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for seismic protection, $3.5 million from the U.S. Rural Development Administration, $375,000 from the state’s heritage capital projects fund, $500,000 in city appropriations and $300,000 in private contributions.
Percy is confident that the remaining funds can be raised through grants and donations.
“Financing depends on many variables, including the availability of federal and assistance grants and loans as well as the generosity of private institutions and individuals,” she said.
For more information, see the library’s website at http://ptpubliclibrary.org/.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
