DeWitt — DeWitt residents this week will have a chance to give their opinions on the DeWitt Community Library proposal to build a freestanding two-story library facility on a subdivision of land on Jamesville Road in Jamesville.
For the past decade, DCL officials have been looking to get the library out of its limited rented space at ShoppingTown Mall and move into a bigger building so they can offer a wider array of services to the area. At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 10, the DeWitt Planning Board will hold a public hearing relating to the site plan for the library’s proposed $8 million project, which is planned to be located on a subdivision of property currently owned by J.K Construction.
A representative from the library’s project will be at the public hearing to present the proposal for interested residents.
“My hopes are that this [public hearing] will give us an opportunity to answer residents’ questions and to explain and describe all of the advantages we’re going to have in the new location and the kinds of enhanced services and programs that we will be able to offer to the community in a freestanding building that we’ve been promising the community for many years,” said Wendy Scott, executive director of the DCL.
While the library has been located in the strip mall location that eventually turned into ShoppingTown Mall for more than 50 years, the current location under the food court in the mall has been the library’s home only since 2008. According to Scott, this location was supposed to be a temporary one until the library could find a way to expand.
The new library would allow for the addition of an expanded teen area, quiet study areas, meeting areas, rooms for tutoring, outdoor space for meetings and programming and a dedicated area to be used as a maker space.
continued — The library relocation project is expected to cost somewhere around $8 million, but almost $3 million has been set aside by the library, according to Scott. Taxpayers in the town of DeWitt approved a 2015 library tax rate of $85.28 per $100,000 home assessed value in May, and some of that money will go toward helping costs associated with the project. Scott said the library is also applying for state grants to provide additional funding.
“We will be launching a modest community campaign after we receive town planning board approval and we close on the property,” said Scott.
This new location is ideal, said Scott, because it is in the center of the library’s coverage area, is easy to get to from Route 481 and Route 5 and will be located along the town’s planned bike trail.
The public hearing relating to the library’s project will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 10 at the DeWitt Town Hall, 5400 Butternut Drive, East Syracuse.
