Sugar Grove board to vote on library plans
The Sugar Grove village board will vote on approval of plans for the $8 million 32,000-square-foot library Tuesday, just 10 days after library officials unveiled a sign marking the site slated for construction to begin in the spring.
The library will be built on a 5-acre parcel on Municipal Drive just south of Route 30.
The board reviewed plans for the new library Oct. 16 but didn't vote. The village planning commission already has approved the plans, and it is expected that village trustees will follow suit.
"We're excited about the library providing additional services," Village President Sean Michels said. "We want to work with them so (the new library) opens as soon as possible. I like the looks of the exterior, and it should provide a great entrance into the community."
The library will add to a central boulevard that already includes the village hall and police station nearby. Also, the board has discussed plans for Municipal Drive to be improved and extended north of Route 30 to a proposed Galena Boulevard extension west of Route 47.
In a ceremony Dec. 8, members of the library board unveiled a sign on the site proclaiming "Welcome to the future home of the Sugar Grove Public Library."
"We wanted to provide visible proof that we're on our way," said Tina Cella, director of communications for the library. "It's vital that the community be made aware that we are going forward. It's not that this might happen, it is happening."
The library closed on the purchase of the land Nov. 30, she said.
Cella also said public awareness is crucial because voters will be asked to approve an operating rate increase for the library in a Feb. 5 referendum. The library is seeking to raise the rate to 25 cents per $100 of equalized assessed property valuation. The current rate is about 9 cents.
"If the rate increase passes, the money will be available in July of 2009," Cella said. "We expect the new library to open in the fall of 2009. We won't be able to operate adequately without the rate hike."