Land swap may help Lombard library expansion

Lombard's Helen M. Plum Library finally has the last piece of property needed to expand its building. Now all it needs is the money.

After more than a year of negotiations, library officials approved an agreement with the Lombard Park District for a land swap at Lilacia Park.

The deal gives the library ownership of a 10-foot-wide driveway that separates the library, at 110 W. Maple St., from two adjacent lots at 126 and 130 W. Maple St.

Library officials hope to use the adjacent sites as space for a building addition. However, their plans depend on convincing the community to approve a referendum to pay for the expansion.

"An expansion would have been difficult to design on two separate parcels," library board President Wayne Kankowsky said today. "This land strip will, hopefully, give us more options on what we could do."

In exchange, the park district receives a path owned by the library west of the site, as well as provisions to protect its park land.

To receive the driveway, library officials agreed to limit any library expansion to two stories in height to prevent shading on park property.

"The park board was committed to protecting the assets of the district," said Paul Friedrichs, executive director of the park district. "The best part about this agreement, though, is it's an example of two governments coming together for the common good of the taxpayers."

Should the library find another site to build a new building, the land swap agreement stipulates that the park district would have the first chance to purchase the two adjacent parcels.

Both the library and park district would hire appraisers to jointly determine a fair sale price. And should the library no longer pursue expansion on the site, the strip would return to the park district.

Over the next several months, the library board plans to hire an architectural firm to design proposed expansion plans for the site, Kankowsky said.

But, he said, the library hasn't yet decided when to reach out to the community through a referendum.

"We want to continually be making progress, but in a thoughtful and conscientious way," Kankowsky said. "Right now this property is our only option, and we want to do it right."