Public Forum Tuesday On Library Plans

ORLEANS – A public forum will be held Tuesday, Nov. 14, where attendees can get an update on plans for a new Snow Library.

The forum, presented by the town’s Snow Library feasibility task force, will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the library on Main Street. Public input on the project and the process will be accepted.

The task force was formed this summer following the approval of $180,000 at the annual town meeting in May to explore the feasibility of designing and building a new library. Steve Gass, who chairs the task force, said the group is interested in seeing options for building a new 24,000-square-foot facility in the same location as the existing building.

“That’s what we’re really focusing on, determining if the current site is viable for an expanded Snow Library,” he said, noting that there has been strong public support voiced in recent years for keeping the library on Main Street.

The task force has contracted to work with a consultant, Oudens Ello Architecture, to help it carry out the feasibility study. The firm, which designed the Eastham Public Library, was one of 10 that submitted proposals to work with the task force, Gass said.

The Nov. 14 forum is one of two that the task force will hold over the course of the study. At the forum, the consultant will present potential options for building a new library on Main Street.

Public input and support for the project will be critical, especially as the town anticipates applying for a construction grant through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners in the spring. If approved, Gass said the grant could cover between 30 and 40 percent of the project’s construction.

But a condition of applying for the grant is a show of support from the town for the project. Gass said that would come in the way of a town meeting vote in the spring.

“Our hope is to build momentum for the project and show some very high level concepts of what we could imagine,” Gass said.

While library officials have their hopes set on staying on Main Street, another condition of the state grant requires that an alternative site also be considered, Gass said.

A second public forum will likely be held near the end of the study, which Gass said the task force hopes to present to the select board in late February.

Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com