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February 1, 2010

Location at issue in plan for new South Plainfield library

By JEFF GRANT • STAFF WRITER • January 31, 2010

mycentraljersey.com

By JEFF GRANT • STAFF WRITER • January 31, 2010

SOUTH PLAINFIELD — The distance that local residents should travel to use their local library is one of the questions at issue as the borough considers moving its present facility from a centrally located site to one nearly two miles away.

“I don't think anybody would deny the fact we need a new library, it (the location) would seem to be the issue,” acknowledged library board of trustees President Eric Aronowitz.

The board recently decided to enter talks with a private firm to lease 14,500 square feet of space inside a one-story commercial building in a light industrial neighborhood along Montrose Avenue. The site is 1.8 miles from the library's present location, next to the municipal building on Plainfield Avenue and down the street from the senior center. Aronowitz said the new building is attractive in that it would meet all of the library's program needs.

“The building itself is laid out perfectly for how we envisioned the new library when we planned to put it next to the municipal building. The building is relatively new, all the main mechanical and heating elements are five years old or less,” he added.

And it won't cost taxpayers anything extra.

Aronowitz said the facility would be funded entirely through the board's regular appropriation. That figure, based on the assessed value of all property within the borough, was $1.3 million in 2009 and is expected to be nearly $1.4 million this year, the trustee leader said, adding that the plan for the new facility that was rejected by voters in 2008 would have required the municipality to float bonds and pay debt service.

“This is a taxpayer-neutral proposition,” Aronowitz said.

Still, there are concerns about moving the facility from the center of town.

The library is roughly a mile from the middle school and high school. Its new location would nearly triple the distance.

“It's important to have a site that's most accessible to students and borough residents,” said Councilwoman Chrissy Buteas.

Mayor Charles Butrico agreed.
“I have a problem with moving it farther away and with the location – out of the center of town. That's where a library should be – where it's easy to get to for residents and school kids.

“I can understand the library's frustration,” Butrico continued. “They need the space.
But I would hope they could take a little more time and maybe look harder to find something a little closer to the middle of town,” he said.

But Aronowitz, recalling a 2008 nonbinding referendum in which fewer than 10 percent of registered voters rejected the idea of a new $4.5 million facility on the Plainfield Avenue site, said no one has produced a better alternative than the proposed lease at the Montrose Avenue site.

“Nobody has come up with a plan,” he said. “This was the best opportunity for the library. We are charged wtih the responsibility of providing with the best library the public can have and staying in this building is not it.”

The library board is scheduled to address the issue again at its Feb. 16 meeting, when a decision could be made. According to Councilman Ray Rusnak, one option the trustees are considering is a 10-year lease with a possible option to move by June 1.

Posted by tumulty at February 1, 2010 9:34 AM

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