Library covets roadway
Board proposes closure of block on 23rd Street for expansion
Darren Bernhardt, The StarPhoenix
Published: Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Photograph by : Gord Waldner, The StarPhoenix
The Saskatoon Public Library board wants to close a block of 23rd Street to expand its downtown library.
Desperate for space in the Frances Morrison central branch, the board has spent seven years searching for another location in the city centre, but to no avail. The situation is now urgent, according to a report posted on the library's website at saskatoonlibrary.ca.
An assessment in 2004 concluded a central library of 150,000 square feet is needed to operate efficiently. The current facility, built in 1966 and intended to serve the public for 25 years, is 78,000 square feet. In that time, the population of Saskatoon has nearly doubled.
If allowed to take over 23rd Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue, the central library's main doors would extend into the civic square adjacent to City Hall. The report gave no indication of the proposed expansion's cost or size. Director of libraries Zenon Zuzak, who authored the report, could not be reached for an interview.
Mayor Don Atchison and Terry Scaddan, executive director of the Partnership, the downtown business improvement district, aren't sold on the idea.
Both insist the main library branch must be downtown, but have reservations about closing off another roadway. One block west of the library, the transit mall has 23rd Street blocked between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.
"When you close off a street, it becomes a pedestrian mall and those are being taken out all across North America because they don't work," Scaddan said. "People don't go there because there's no retail, so they fall into disuse and can become a safety issue."
Diverting traffic is a less desirable option when compared to moving cars more efficiently and burning less fuel, Scaddan said, adding traffic congestion is also getting worse and closing a street will make it worse.
"We need to be open-minded and look at all the options," Atchison said. "We can't be fixated on one location."
Atchison wouldn't reveal his preferred location because he hasn't looked into it, he said, adding, "We (City of Saskatoon) might not own that land."
The library board has been exploring its options for 27 years, most seriously since 2000, but "has run out of options," the report states.
"The library board is not aware of another existing building or site available that would meet the needs of the central library in terms of location and structure."
In 1980, the board began looking at long-range plans as overcrowding was already becoming an issue. In 1987, the board approved construction of a third floor on the existing building within five years, but that idea was abandoned in 1994 when a consultant found "structural shortcomings" would limit the room that could be added.
Since 2000, the board has flirted with moving into either the vacated Bay building or King George Hotel, but the necessary renovations would have been too costly. It also explored the idea of building new in River Landing, but that fell apart when the city doled out $15 million in federal grants to other projects.
"The pressure of this growth is being felt more intensely with every passing year," the library board report states.
The central branch houses Saskatoon Public Library's collection of circulating and non-circulating materials and is a point of access for specialized services. While its collection of books, magazines, newspapers, videos, CDs, and DVDs has grown considerably during the past 41 years, the room to store it all has not.
"The collection is extremely cramped and requires more space for shelving and display," the report states. "The local history room also requires more room to display and properly store valuable historical collections (and) more public space is required for reading areas, computers, programming and meeting rooms."
With 69 per cent of city residents active library users, Saskatoon's library system is one of the most well-used in the country, ranking as one of the top three large urban public libraries in terms of circulation, according to the report.
The proposed project would be financed through a combination of tax dollars, capital reserves, fundraising, and grants from the three levels of government. But before anything can happen, it must earn public backing.
To that end, the library board is hosting open houses Oct. 16 and 19 in the Frances Morrison gallery to explain the plan.
Pending support, the board will conduct a feasibility study over the winter to examine the impact of the street closure on traffic flow, the transit mall, neighbouring businesses and underground infrastructure (water lines, sewer and electrical).
The study would help identify the costs of such a closure and of constructing underground parking.
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FACT BOX:
- Main branch opened in 1966
- Cost: $1.475 million
- SPL branches: 7
- Annual visitors to SPL branches: 1.5 million
- Items in SPL inventory: 845,927
- Items loaned annually: four million
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If they have trouble seeing eye to eye on the design/layout, two 30+ structures will do just fine.
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