Cook library close to deal for new library site

Cook Memorial Public Library District officials are nearing a much-anticipated deal that would secure a site for a new library in Vernon Hills, board President Aaron Lawlor said Tuesday.

"We're closing in on a decision and have been working very diligently to move forward," Lawlor said before a regularly scheduled evening meeting. "This has been the board's top priority."

Good news could come at the board's next meeting, Lawlor said. That session is set for 6:30 p.m. Nov. 20 at the main library in downtown Libertyville.

The board voted in May to pursue a new site in Vernon Hills and to expand the main library. The district now has an interim branch in the basement of Vernon Hills' village hall.

Officials want to add about 10,000 square feet of space to the main library and to either build a new library in Vernon Hills or rehab existing space.

In Vernon Hills, the board initially focused on building a 20,000-square foot library on vacant, village-owned land on Aspen Drive south of Route 60. But it later added an existing building on nearby Deerpath Drive, also south of Route 60, as a possible site.

A library there could be between 20,000 square feet and 25,000 square feet, Director Dan Armstrong has said.

Earlier this fall, Lawlor said he hoped the board would settle on a location last month, but that target passed without action. The board has spent considerable time talking about its options in occasionally lengthy private sessions, which it did again Tuesday night.

"We obviously need to protect our taxpayers and the district's interests," Lawlor said, referring to the closed-door meetings.

Regardless of which southern site the board chooses, it plans to borrow $12 million to fund the work there and in Libertyville. It will use annual budget surpluses to pay back the money, officials have said.

Gilfillan Callahan Architects, a Rolling Meadows firm, was hired to develop plans for the Libertyville and Vernon Hills buildings. Some preliminary images are viewable on the district's Web site at www.cooklib.org/news/prelimdesign.htm.