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August 13, 2008
No ballot question set on library
By Keith Brown • COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU • August 13, 2008
TINTON FALLS — Residents will not see a ballot initiative asking whether the town should build a new library — at least not yet.
While the results are in on a state grant-funded feasibility study that the library's board of trustees and other supporters commissioned more than a year ago, the Borough Council is still mulling over the report, which was received earlier this month.
The study was received just a week before the deadline to put a question on the November ballot. Council members said at their Aug. 5 meeting that time line was too tight — a decision that was backed by library supporters.
"We're not eager to go to a referendum — at least not at this point," said Linda Zucaro, president of the library's board of trustees.
A presentation by Somerville-based Dennis Kowal Architects, the study's authors, will be scheduled for later this year, according to Council President Brendan Tobin.
Councilman Michael Skudera said the cost of the library, according to the study, was around $7 million.
The recommended size of a new library is around 27,000 square feet, roughly 10,000 square feet smaller than the borough hall. The current library is about 4,000 square feet.
The site of the new library also is an unanswered question. Library supporters would like it to be near the borough hall. Current plans for the redevelopment of Fort Monmouth place the library on that property.
"We would like it either on the borough site, which would be our preference," Zucaro said, "or on the Fort Monmouth site, which is the mayor's wish."
The library study was paid for by a $25,000 state grant.
The library, which has occupied the same space since 1961, last year lent out 70,000 items to the borough's more than 17,000 residents. Library use since 2001 has increased 63 percent. The library receives well more than 100 visitors each day and has accommodated up to 400, according to Rosemarie Tunnicliffe, library director.
The donated house that serves as the library has long since run out of storage space. Its only two Internet-connected computers are so in demand that staff has set a 20-minute time limit per person on each, and its burgeoning children's summer-reading program routinely has to be held outside — weather permitting — under a borough-donated tent for lack of space inside.
Keith Brown: (732) 643-4076 or kbrown@app.com
Posted by tumulty at August 13, 2008 9:54 AM
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