This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
03/20/2018 12:00 AMDespite encountering a number of challenges over the past few months, the plan to renovate the E.C. Scranton Memorial Library received a stamp of approval from the Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC) on March 15 with little fuss. The library came before PZC for a special exception permit application for the addition and renovations to the building.
The voter-approved renovation plan for the E.C. Scranton Memorial Library is a scaled-down version of the plan that Madison voters narrowly defeated in a 2008 referendum vote. Approved designs for the building work to preserve the historical architecture while improving the streetscape and expanding the floor plan. The square footage of the building will jump from 17,000 to 37,000 and a 45-space parking lot will be added.
The project to renovate the library is estimated to cost $15 million, but due to grants and fundraising efforts, the library asked the town to bond for $9.1 million.
In the past months the library project has gone through a shift in architects, projected cost overruns, energy operating concerns, and the proposed elimination of the Hull Building. More recently, after learning that the proposed basement in the building addition would hit the water table, project architects Drummey Rosane Anderson, Inc. (DRA) reworked the schematic design for the building, opting for a two-story, slab-on-grade addition, which has no basement.
At the PZC meeting, library officials presented the design of the building and went over construction details like the parking lot, septic design, and building elevations.
Angela Cahill of DRA said the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) granted three variances for the project to make space for the new addition. In the building design, Cahill said the view of the library from Boston Post Road will remain largely unchanged to keep with the historic character of the corner. Almost all of the space added is in the new addition on the back of the building that will be visible from Wall Street.
“The existing building overall is just a little bit over 16,000 square feet,” she said. “Our plans are to add almost 17,000 square feet, but split over two levels so in a sense we are doubling the square footage of the building through this project, but in a more compact area.”
Inside the building, Cahill said the 1980s addition will be mainly for the children’s section and the existing historic section of the library will be used for reading space, periodicals, and special collections. In the new addition, the first floor will mainly be used for fiction books and includes a large program room at the back of the building that can be sealed off from the rest of the building, keeping it free for community use in the evenings when the library is closed. The second floor of the addition will be for non-fiction books, a teen area, and staff offices and additional conference rooms.
While the addition is obviously going to be new, Cahill said the architectural team has worked to ensure the exterior design is in keeping with the existing building.
“In terms of the design of the building we wanted to coordinate with the historic building and be respectful of that,” she said. “We wanted to keep the addition as high as we could for mechanicals and feasibility, but yet we did not want to overpower the historic building and in terms of material we wanted to closely match the brick as much as we could.”
PZC members had some questions about parking, circulation, and a few about one historic element of the original building. Jim Matteson asked what became of the old plan to use the original historic entrance, designed by Henry Bacon, at the front of the library again or at least put the steps back for visual reasons.
Library Building Committee member Billy Budd said the committee looked into that, but in the end it was too much of a challenge for multiple reasons.
“The major challenge there is the confusion that it sets up,” he said. “While I understand why that would be a positive thing visually…it never seemed to make sense to do that and then create the problem of people knocking on the door all the time and there is no one on staff that is anywhere near it, so it really became a functional issue and a practical issue. Visually it’s a real plus, but functionally we couldn’t figure out how to deal with it.”
PZC unanimously approved the application with many members commenting on how they liked the design of the building and the addition of parking on the library lot. Library Director Beth Crowley said it was reassuring to hear members speak in favor of the project.
“I was wonderful to hear. It was definitely uplifting and re-energizing as far as moving forward with the new library building,” she said. “It was great that they were so happy with the way they thought the design would fit in with the downtown because we worked really hard throughout the whole process to make sure that was front and center of our goal and intent to build an addition on our space.”