While the Lake Oswego School District mulls the city of Lake Oswego’s idea of building a community center at the current Lake Grove Elementary School site, the city has laid out some of the challenges with renovating the current Lake Oswego Public Library space in First Addition.
The council received a presentation from consultant CIDA about the work that would need to be done to maintain the library’s existing capacity while meeting new guidelines regarding seismic preparedness and ADA compliance, as well as fixing other issues, during a meeting Tuesday, May 21.
The consultant estimated that it would cost the city at least $10 million to make improvements like constructing seismic upgrades and entryways that meet ADA requirements, as well as rebuilding stairwells, removing or replacing deteriorated siding and more. The library was built in 1982 and the local government said the city outgrew it by 1988.
At the meeting, Library Director Melissa Kelly said the city does not have the money in its current budget to entirely pay for these fixes, thus requiring saving up money or potentially going out for a bond.
‘This is just doing the minimal amount’
The council generally expressed apprehension about greenlighting these improvements amid the tricky situation it finds itself in — lacking a solidified place for a new library, facing a long timeframe for when it could theoretically build a new one and also needing to improve the current library to meet standards.
“I think it’s really important to note that this is just doing the minimal amount that needs to be done. It’s not going to give us the extra foot inside … (it would not create) extra parking. The price really concerns me and there is probably a lot that hasn’t been unearthed in that building,” Councilor Rachel Verdick said at the meeting. “I don’t think we are going to be able to achieve the library of the future if we stay where we are currently.”
“It is a very interesting situation. We have to have a conversation about: ‘how do we do this?’” Councilor Ali Afghan said.
However, Councilor Aaron Rapf restated his point of view that the city should not move forward with any major library facility improvements, saying that the local government should think hard about its biggest needs and what would warrant bond funding.
“So the real question is, if we go out for a bond, what would the community want to pay for the most? Is it a library? I doubt it,” he said, suggesting that residents would prefer spending tax dollars on sports fields, undergrounding utilities and the Luscher Farm property.
City Manager Martha Bennett said his framing was a fair question but noted that the city will need to do something with the library; it can’t just let it continue to deteriorate. Rapf disagreed with that, though, saying doing nothing is always an option if you want to take the risk.
Ongoing debate over Lake Grove option
The council pitched the school district on the community center concept during meetings the last couple months. In that scenario, the city would use urban renewal and bond funding to finance a new community center that could include a library, parks and recreation services and district offices at the current Lake Grove Elementary School site. The school district said Lake Grove is in the poorest condition of any local elementary schools, and thus under consideration to be demolished for another use.
A few First Addition residents testified at the meeting, asking the city to consider an alternative other than demolishing the current library on Fourth Street. They also noted that respondents to recent community surveys have stated near universal satisfaction in the current library.
“The community is not clamoring for a new library. Listen to our residents, your constituents; Keep and take care of the library we have,” Karl Ockert said at the meeting.
Mayor Joe Buck said the city doesn’t make decisions solely off of surveys and it needs to weigh a greater breadth of information.
Some commenters also felt that the city could in fact meet future needs under the current library parameters.
“Assertions have been made that it’s not possible to offer the services of a modern library at the current location — that 27,100 square feet is not big enough, and the only option is to tear down and build a shiny new one where a beloved school sits,” Diana Schmidt wrote in testimony. “In fact, it’s quite possible to offer more amenities at our current location. Countless modern libraries are able to offer a wide variety of amenities within square footage less than or equal to ours. The thoughtful and efficient use of space, coupled with extended operating hours, will allow us to meet the needs of all ages.”
The library’s wishlist
In an interview after the meeting, Kelly said there isn’t enough land at the current library site to expand capacity and maintain adequate parking. She said the building could be enlarged to some degree but the extra parking related to the additional capacity would likely flow into the neighborhood and the city couldn’t expand the library to a meaningful degree anyway.
“We would be limited in our ability to add amenities in the square footage we are already very constrained in,” she said.
Some of the amenities the city would like to add through a new library or library expansion include a cafe-style gathering space for studying, reservable meeting rooms, multipurpose meeting and event spaces, a larger kids area, a dedicated teen maker space and an educational play zone.
Kelly said another idea for freeing up space for new amenities would be to move to a closed stack access model where shelving is condensed and collapsible. She said this is often used for archival collections and would afford limited browsing access.
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