Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 28, 1993 TAG: 9307280126
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KEN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"We are in the very first preliminary concept phase for the project," said Richard Fitts, the architect from The Design Collaborative of Virginia Beach. "This is a phase for open thinking and problem seeking as well as problem solving."
The Board of Supervisors hired the company in July.
The meeting, attended by Mayor Roger Hedgepeth, Town Manager Bill West and about 20 other townspeople, was called to let the public see the designs and comment on them. Officials also wanted a chance to persuade them to vote for a November bond referendum to pay for the estimated $1.8 million renovation.
"We're not going to be able to build this with just grants and donations," said Nancy Hurst, chairwoman of the library board. "We're going to need county money."
Library and town officials want to expand the library from 12,500 square feet - of which only 950 is used for books, the rest is for storage - to 16,000 square feet.
"We really need the space," Hurst said. "We don't have the collection here that we should for the population we're serving."
Officials also want a larger facility so it will fit into the plans for a new community center to be developed downtown.
Fitts said the public meeting represented one of the most important stages of the project because it gave architects the opportunity to incorporate the ideas from the public's questions.
And question they did.
Flanked by sketches and blueprints of possible designs for the new library, Fitts entertained a barrage of questions like a professor listening to a group of skeptical students.
Although those gathered seemed pleased with the overall designs, many questioned specific aesthetic and functional aspects of the proposed renovations, including the direction the building will face, how the high windows would be cleaned and how the building will fall in with long-term plans of the downtown community center.
Citizens also debated what should be done with the Huckleberry Trail, the bike and foot pathway that can run beside or through the proposed library site.
Although Fitts satisfied most of the skeptics, he admitted he could not answer all of the questions. But he said he would consider them when developing the designs.
As one citizen said, the library is like a jigsaw puzzle.
"But that doesn't mean we can't solve it," Fitts said.
Fitts said renovating the existing building is the most economical and effective way to give the town a new facility, even though library officials initially wanted a new building.
"We feel we can come very close to the performance of a new building by renovating the existing one," he said.
Renovating the current building will save $100,000 to $250,000, Fitts said, compared to a new library.
If the funds are raised, work could begin by September 1994, Fitts said. He said it should take about a year to complete the renovations.
by CNB