Rolling Meadows Library plans expansion for meeting rooms
The Rolling Meadows Library plans to embark on its first building expansion in three decades starting this May with the addition of small group meeting rooms and a lounge.
Larger groups now gather at the library's second floor community meeting room and board room, but patrons often request smaller rooms to meet, aid Director David Ruff said.
The library is planning a 1,625-square-foot addition in the southwest corner of the building at 3110 Martin Lane that would have two meeting rooms with wall-mounted flat-screen TVs for presentations and whiteboard walls. Each room would have five chairs but could fit as many as 10 people, according to plans.
The addition also includes a flexible use room, tentatively called the Garden Lounge, which will have high-counter seating, charging stations for mobile devices, vending machines, and an electronic fireplace.
The footprint of the 43,000-square-foot library isn't expanding since the new rooms will be in an area now occupied by a rock and tree garden within the building's existing foundation. As a result, there won't be any loss of sidewalk, street or parking, officials said.
The city council gave the project a unanimous first reading vote of approval last week, and final approval of a special use permit is expected to come later this month before officials go out to bid.
Costs are estimated to be about $800,000, for which the library has been building up reserves over time, Ruff said.
The library also is seeking early city council approval of a 1,075-square-foot expansion of the receiving room area on the north side of the building. It would be used for storage and house the book stock for the Friends of the Library's semiannual book sales.
But the project is another two to three years away until enough money can be put aside in the reserve fund, Ruff said.
The eastern half of the library was built in the early 1960s and the western portion added in 1987.
The latest addition is expected to be complete by August.