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07/30/2014 12:00 AMThe Board of Trustees of the Scranton Memorial Library is holding a public presentation of the library's new expansion plan in the library's Community Room on Thursday, July 31 at 7 p.m.
The campus concept provides 5,000 to 6,000 additional square feet versus the 25,000 square feet included in a previous proposal that was rejected by residents.
In 2005, the trustees purchased a piece of property adjacent to the library on the east side. The price was $600,000, and the property included a structure called the "Blue House." The trustees have also been renting this. With the two acquisitions, the library now owns 1.5 acres.
The concept now under discussion would demolish the Blue House, move the small former post office building up to the street between the Hull Building and the "White House," and thereby recreate a streetscape along Wall Street. The relocation of the former post office and the demolition of the Blue House would create a 40- to 50-car parking area behind the library.
Potential new construction would link the parking area to the library and would link the Hull Building to the library as well as expand the back of the Hull Building. The concept would take existing space-25,594 square feet total in the main building, the Hull Building, and the former post office-and reconfigure its use. Additions linking the library to the Hull Building could create an additional 5,500 square feet. The total space for library use would be 31,094 square feet.
The library's original entrance would be restored, and new entrances added at the back from the parking area and from Wall Street.