Sitting on a hill on Avenue A, the Carnegie Public Library has served generations of Montague residents for 120 years. The building is listed on the National Registry of Historical Places and is one of the town’s architectural jewels.
Having been built in 1906, the library has nonetheless outlived its usefulness and needs to be replaced. As far back as 1915, the Turners Falls Library Trustees determined that the new building was too small to meet the needs of the community.
The issues with the Carnegie Library are many, including accessibility, parking, shelf space, meeting and programming space, adequate staff areas, adequate children’s and teen areas, deteriorating mechanical systems and more. Anyone who’s visited the library knows how cramped it is, along with being non-compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The town is in a unique position to fund the construction of a new library with the state paying close to half of the cost. If the project passes a debt exclusion vote on June 24, the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) program will reimburse the town 48% percent ($11.3 million) of the $23.7 million of the cost of the project. The town would be responsible for paying the remaining $12.4 million.
The new library would be 21,000 square feet and be located at 38 Avenue A, adjacent to the Great Falls Discovery Center. The library would meet the needs of the community in several ways and serve as an attractive and welcoming gateway to downtown.
“We conducted a lot of citizens outreach through things like public meetings and focus groups and people said they wanted to make sure a new library would blend in with the community,” said Tricia Perham, Co-Chair of the Library Building Steering Committee, Montague Public Libraries Trustee member, and Town Meeting member. “We made sure that we were proposing a building that fit with the look and feel of the downtown. It’s a first impression of the town and I think it would make a great gateway to the town.”
The cost to renovate the Carnegie Library to provide the same services as the new library would be $5 million more than the new construction price tag. That’s why the Steering Committee and Trustees voted to pursue the new construction plan.
“We didn’t believe there would be support in this town to fully renovate the Carnegie Library once people realized the extra amount it would cost,” Perham said.
The estimated cost to taxpayers to fund a new library is $159 a year, about $3 a week, based on an average assessed home value of $325,699. The tax burden will be eased when the cost of the construction of the new police station and renovation of Turners Falls High School/Great Falls Middle School will be retired within the next couple of years. The debt exclusion vote for the police station project was held in 2008, while the vote for the Turners High School/Great Falls Middle School expansion was in 2001.
The amount of debt being retired, based on the average assessed home is $20/year for the school and $74/year for the police station. As a result, the net impact of the library’s debt is $65/year to the average homeowner.
Supporters of building a new library will also be looking to organize a capital fundraising campaign and explore other state grants to further offset the cost of the project.
The MBLC reimbursement is competitive grant money based on the needs of a community. It was determined that replacing the Carnegie Library was a high priority among communities that applied for the grant. If the proposal is rejected by voters, that grant money will be lost for the foreseeable future and the problems at the Carnegie Library will remain unaddressed.
“Building a new library is our chance to get our share of the taxes we pay come back to the community,” said Will Quale, Chair of the Montague Public Libraries Trustees, Library Building Steering Committee member, and Chair of the Yes for a Montague Library ballot question committee. “If we don’t approve the project the money goes to the next town on the MBLC’s wait list.”
A new library would offer new computers, study rooms, separate children’s, teens, and
community rooms and programming space, a local history room, and be completely ADA compliant. The library would also feature adult fiction and non-fiction areas, a large reading room, art gallery, book sale space, outdoor seating, and roof garden.
“This project is based on input from the community and the expertise of the MBLC,” Perham said.
A number of cost savings measures were included in the design of the project, including not constructing a basement, lowering the overall height of the building, using steel construction, installing an efficient hydronic HVAC system and a solar array to offset utility costs.
While the Carnegie would no longer be used as a library, the building cannot be torn down, nor can its exterior be modified because of its historic status and could still be sold and used for another purpose, such as a performance space, business, arts venue, or other opportunities.
Supporters of constructing a new library see the opportunity to create a place that welcomes all Montague citizens, as well as allowing the Carnegie, under new stewards, to take on a new purpose behind its historic façade.
Learn more at http://yeslibrary.org
