Cook library alternate expansion dropped
A day after Cook Memorial Public Library District Director Dan Armstrong said he planned to propose developing an alternate expansion plan that could significantly reduce the work to be done at the main library in Libertyville, Armstrong did no such thing during Tuesday's board meeting.
Instead, after hearing from about a dozen Libertyville-area residents who urged the library board to move ahead with the existing expansion plan, the seven-member panel voted unanimously to proceed with that plan and seek approval from the village boards in both towns.
After the meeting, Armstrong said he spoke to people in the community who persuaded him that changing the plans would only exacerbate long-standing bickering between Libertyville and Vernon Hills residents. As a result, he decided to scrap his alternate plan.
Armstrong told the crowd of roughly 30 people he's committed to expanding the main library in Libertyville and building a new facility in Vernon Hills. The two villages are the largest communities in the district.
The $14 million expansion plan calls for the addition of about 11,200 square feet to the main library on Milwaukee Avenue in Libertyville and the construction of a new 20,000-square-foot building on Aspen Drive in Vernon Hills. About $7 million will be spent at each site.
During a Libertyville village board meeting last week, however, village officials said they disliked the designs for the Libertyville expansion. They specifically criticized a proposed second-story addition and alternatively suggested a ground-level addition that would eat into the library's parking lot.
In response, Armstrong told the Daily Herald he planned to ask the library board to consider a two-track concept that could have eliminated the Libertyville expansion entirely and simply would have called for an interior renovation -- if the village board didn't allow the current expansion plan to progress in a timely manner.
Armstrong said his job is "to get expanded facilities, one way or another."
No such proposal was floated at Tuesday night's library board meeting, however.
Instead, Armstrong was mostly quiet after his comments to the public. And board President Aaron Lawlor said he wants his panel to continue trying to work through issues with the plans that have arisen in Libertyville and in Vernon Hills.
"What's most important for this district is that we move forward with two expansion projects," Lawlor said.
After the meeting, Armstrong said library officials should do the best they can for each of the villages.
"Hopefully it results in very good structures in each of the areas," he said.