Cook library expansion plans to change

Despite an earlier threat to abandon expanding the main Cook Memorial Public Library if Libertyville trustees didn't approve architectural plans, library officials have agreed to alter the designs to meet the village board's wishes.

The facility now will grow at ground level onto what's currently the parking lot. Previously, plans called for a second-story addition and an overhang above part of the parking lot.

With final say over the project's appearance, Libertyville officials repeatedly criticized that approach. Library officials opted to change the design after a recent meeting with Mayor Jeffrey Harger and other village leaders, library board President Aaron Lawlor said Monday.

"This was not something that was going to be approved," Lawlor said. "That was made clear to us."

Libertyville village Trustee Bob Peron, a vocal critic of the former two-story design, was glad the library board is changing the plans.

"I think it'll work more into the fabric of our downtown," Peron said. "We want a building that we can all be proud of."

Developed last year, the $14 million plan calls for an addition to the main library and the construction of a new 20,000-square-foot building in Vernon Hills.

After the initial designs for the Cook Park site received a cool reception from the village board in April, library Director Dan Armstrong threatened to propose a new plan that would eliminate the Libertyville expansion and focus most of the project's money and energy on the Vernon Hills site.

Armstrong backed down the next day, however, and never brought such a proposal to the library board. The panel approved changing direction last week.

"We want to work with the village to expand the building in a way that will allow it to come to fruition," Lawlor said.

The ground-level expansion should be about 11,200 square feet, Lawlor said - the same as the now-scuttled second-story version, Lawlor said.

Because it will extend onto the parking lot, about 10 spaces probably will be lost, he said.

It will include a drive-up window for patrons returning or picking up books, which Lawlor hopes could relieve some of the need for parking spaces.

Lawlor did not know how much the new plans will cost to produce or how much the revisions will delay the project.

Those issues likely will be discussed Aug. 5 when the library board holds a special meeting to review new architectural designs and other aspects of the plan.