Mayor presses Cook Library for parking lot changes
Three weeks before Libertyville's newly renovated library is set to open, Mayor Terry Weppler is pressing for changes to its parking lot to avoid affecting summertime events like Libertyville Days.
The village has yet to grant an occupancy permit to the Cook Memorial Public Library at Cook Park, which is nearing the end of a $7 million expansion and renovation that began 18 months ago.
Library Director Stephen Kershner said he expects the library to open Jan. 8 as planned after a handful of village conditions are met, including installation of an additional sprinkler and a sidewalk ramp.
The permit is not dependent on resolving the mayor's concern over the parking lot. As designed, drivers will enter the one-way lot from Brainerd Avenue and exit onto Church Street. The village typically closes Church Street during warm-weather festivals, farmers markets and car shows, which would leave library patrons without an exit.
Weppler has proposed widening the entrance enough for two-way traffic and installing a removable barricade at the Church Street exit. He said the village would cover the expense.
“We want to make sure we can still do those events,” Weppler told library trustees Tuesday night. “This solution is no cost to the library.”
Trustees gave mixed reactions, pointing out a two-way traffic pattern had already been considered and rejected. Several trustees expressed concerns about safety and said any traffic-pattern changes should be permanent to avoid confusing drivers during events.
“We walked through more hurdles with this project,” Trustee Karen Broms said. “This feels like one more.”
The 11,000-square-foot expansion project, initially supposed to be finished in October, was delayed by basement flooding and a construction strike.
That Libertyville would bear the cost of modifying the parking lot was of little comfort to Board President Bonnie Quirke, who pointed out residents pay taxes to the village and the library district.
“I'm very disappointed about this whole thing,” she said. “Now we're faced again with asking the taxpayer to ante up.”
Weppler said he raised concern over the parking lot in a letter six months ago and was told the library would seek to legally block the village from barricading the Center Street exit during events.
James H. Johnson, principal at AT Group, the construction management firm overseeing the project, said widening the entrance and installing a barricade would cost several thousand dollars.
Discussion was continued to a later date. Weppler said he would take trustees' comments to the village board.
The temporary storefront library patrons have been using on Milwaukee Avenue will close Thursday. Kershner said equipment and books are being transferred from storage to the new library.
The renovation coincided with the $7 million construction of the Aspen Drive Library in Vernon Hills that opened in July.