Lombard library seeks renewed talks with park district about building
New leaders on the Lombard library board want to restart stalled negotiations with the Lombard Park District so a plan can be finalized to rebuild the library next to Lilacia Park.
The library in November successfully asked voters to approve a property tax increase so it could demolish the outdated Helen M. Plum Memorial Library and replace it with a larger, more modern structure at 110 W. Maple St.
But the library needs the park district, which owns neighboring Lilacia Park, to sign off on the project. And the park district has refused to give the library permission to build more than one story on land that used to be part of the park.
While there were attempts to negotiate, those talks were unsuccessful. The delay already has caused the library to miss the opportunity to begin construction this year.
This week, the library board elected new officers, including President Jason Brandt. Now Brandt is hoping to schedule a meeting with Dave Kundrot, the new president of the park district board.
Brandt says the purpose of the meeting would be to discuss how the library and park district can collaborate to move the building project forward.
"As always, the library is keenly interested in working with the park district to build a library that best serves the community, while at the same time respecting and protecting Lilacia Park," Brandt said in a statement.
The letter requesting the meeting was supposed to be delivered Thursday to the park district.
But Paul Friedrichs, the park district's executive director, said he hadn't received anything from the library as of Thursday afternoon. He said he didn't know the library wanted a meeting until a reporter told him.
Library spokeswoman Sue Wilsey said library board members considered multiple options before deciding to seek the meeting.
"Now that we have new leadership on both sides, we can revisit some of the things we've talked about in the past," Wilsey said. "Hopefully, we can start negotiations."
The reason the library needs permission from the park district dates to the 1970s, when it acquired part of Lilacia Park so it could expand its first floor.
As part of that deal, the roof of the library addition was made into a plaza that overlooks the park. While the library owns the plaza deck, the park district owns the air space above it.
The park district gave the library land on several occasions with the understanding that nothing would be built beyond a certain height at those locations. The park district says it has air rights to the north, east and west of the library.
However, library officials say their most recent proposed design for the building respects the park district's air rights. Park district officials disagree.
"It's kind of a stalemate," Wilsey said.
Despite failed efforts in the past to negotiate, Wilsey said the library board doesn't want to take legal action to resolve the issue.
"That would be the last possible thing we would want to consider," she said. "We're hoping that conversations between community-minded folks will result in something positive for everybody in Lombard."