Streamwood library ready to take expansion bids

Having won approval for their expansion plans from the village of Streamwood Thursday, Poplar Creek Library officials will start the bidding process today.

Last spring voters authorized a tax increase to double the size of the 48,000-square-foot library at 1405 S. Park Ave. in Streamwood.

Library officials already hired Chicago-based Pepper Construction to serve as construction manager, a job which will include overseeing the choice of the main construction contractor.

Bid packets will be available for pickup on Monday. Bids will be opened Nov. 19. Pepper Construction will choose a contractor shortly afterward, based on parameters and a budget already laid out by the library board, said board President Susan Spooner.

The $22.7 million project will break ground in the parking lot behind the current library building in the early spring.

All parking will be in a lot across Park Avenue, shared with the Streamwood Park District.

By May, when the new wing of the library is about to break through into the current building, library employees and materials will move to a temporary facility not yet identified for the rest of the construction period.

Spooner said it's strongly hoped that an adequate temporary location will be found within the boundaries of the library district, though there's no legal requirement for that.

If the project remains on schedule, the expanded library should reopen in the late spring or early summer of 2009, Spooner said.

An aspect of the project Streamwood officials took strong interest in was the plan for the expanded library to have an environmentally friendly "green roof."

A green roof consists of vegetation in a 4-inch soil base on the top of a building. The most practical aspect is its ability to hold the storm water that would otherwise drain to a space-consuming underground vault.

Village officials added a restriction to their approval of the expansion project, denying future library board members the ability to change their minds about the green roof without the village board's consent.

Village Trustee William Harper pointed out that the 2.2-acre site would be without adequate drainage if the green roof were abandoned.