As most residents are either packing to go away on school vacation or dealing with the after effects of the Blizzard of 2013, the group of dedicated volunteers working on Boxford’s latest library proposal are making final preparations for the Special Town Meeting that will focus solely on the most recent opportunity for Boxford to build a new library.

As most residents are either packing to go away on school vacation or dealing with the after effects of the Blizzard of 2013, the group of dedicated volunteers working on Boxford’s latest library proposal are making final preparations for the Special Town Meeting that will focus solely on the most recent opportunity for Boxford to build a new library.


Boxford Selectmen called the Special Town Meeting for Tuesday, Feb. 26, beginning at 7 p.m. at Masconomet High School — just two days after most families are getting back to their normal routines from February vacation.


The Library Trustees are expected to present a revised plan for a new library on Elm Street.


As most town residents are aware, in May 2012, Boxford Selectmen established an independent special purpose committee, the Library Advisory Committee (LAC) to work closely with the town’s regulatory boards to overcome concerns that prevented the 2010 plan, previously approved by voters, from being built.Their findings culminated in the latest proposal.


"The new plan was developed through compromise," stated Barbara Jessel, chairwoman of the Library Advisory Committee. "The 2010 design was thoroughly reviewed along with the building floor plans and a listing of areas integral to creating a vibrant, functional library. Some areas were reduced, some were eliminated and still others were reconfigured to reduce as much square footage as possible from the building, without dramatically impacting the delivery of services or programs".


Along with square footage, the site, itself, was reconfigured to accommodate concerns expressed by neighbors and regulatory boards.


The proposed library has been detached from the historic Cummings House which enables better use of the entire Elm Street parcel. In the new plan, the library is nestled at the back of the site and the outbuildings (original Cummings House and existing barn) remain in place.


"From a town planning perspective, the revised plan is far superior," said Bob Gore, chairman of Boxford’s Planning Board, during recent meetings with the Selectmen. "The approach creates a cohesive civic space that brings meaning and functionality to the site. This library scheme would be a terrific enhancement for Boxford."


De-coupling the Cummings House from the new library removes the concern of the height differential of rooflines, and uses existing structures and site topography to diminish the building massing — issues that plagued the Planning Board, HDC and ZBA during reviews of the previous plan.


Additionally, the new library is more equidistant from all direct abutters.


With a re-envisioned site plan, a redesigned exterior and a more compact layout, the revised library plan offers the same service and program options that the town voted for in 2010, in a smaller building, with a tighter footprint that uses multipurpose rooms and scaled back open spaces.


The new, gross building square footage is 15,000 square feet. The total square footage reduction is 3,500.


Of course, all this compromise comes with a cost to Boxford taxpayers. The loss of the state grant funding now means that Boxford residents will have to foot the bill for the entire building on their own.


Boxford’s Permanent Building Committee will be asking voters to approve $395,000 in design funding at the Special Town Meeting to bring this new plan to life. However, unlike the previous plan, this funding request will take the project through the entire regulatory and contract bidding processes so voters won’t be asked for final construction funding until they know the building is fully permitted and the exact cost for construction from a general contractor.


Projected construction costs were not available at press time, but will be included in the presentation at the Special Town Meeting. The request for final construction funding is slated for discussion at Boxford’s October Town Meeting, if design funding is approved in February.


The silver lining for Boxford finances, however, is that the cost for designing and permitting the previous plan was entirely paid for by the State of Massachusetts using grant monies from the MBLC, not town residents.


Can Boxford endure further studies?


After years of debate, the last two of which became quite rancorous, some Boxford residents still question whether the project is being rushed.


"Extensive investigation was undertaken into alternate sites, especially the Spofford Road parcel where the Town Hall is located," said East Village resident and Finance Committee member Peter Bernardin at a recent meeting. "While the site on Spofford Road initially seemed promising, upon further investigation, many conservation, environmental and health-related concerns were uncovered that made the parcel much less attractive to develop.


"We can study options for another 30 years, but the cost per square foot for new construction is on the rise and bond rates are still relatively low, so from a financial perspective, moving this project along swiftly is the most cost-effective solution," he continued. "Plus, the library is in need of significant repairs that have been put off while awaiting a new building, the cost of doing nothing is substantial at this point".


Several questions remain for Boxford to sort out at its Special Town Meeting at the end of this month: Can Boxford residents come together and make an investment in their community? Will residents embrace this compromise for a new library? Can they let go of the past and take action to focus on the future?


If all interested parties come to the table prepared to find solutions, perhaps Boxford can close the chapter on its library odyssey once and for all.


Let’s finish the journey together — come to Town Meeting and vote!


 
http://boxford.wickedlocal.com/x171151651/Town-Meeting-to-consider-a-compromise-library-plan-on-Feb-26?photo=0
boxford.wickedlocal.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2017-09
44476
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:XOBYG7GKDZMYWVUXUVJFUV65J6XJMABD
<urn:uuid:03bd9039-2cfb-4e1c-be36-acdc1972bd4f>
2017-02-22T08:21:58Z
199.83.132.90
sha1:GGT5ZL535GJPOE7UJQZWLOJDBZWNKQC2
<urn:uuid:3f9cf2a0-e61c-41a1-9009-688c8590fe23>
http://boxford.wickedlocal.com/x171151651/Town-Meeting-to-consider-a-compromise-library-plan-on-Feb-26?photo=0
response
<urn:uuid:6cac7877-8141-46d1-ac54-d801c58c2f8d>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-09
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for February 2017
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf