The Seattle Public Library board of trustees will narrow its list of sites for the new Beacon Hill library at a meeting scheduled at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26 at the Central Library, 1000 4th Ave., Lee Auditorium. The meeting will include an overview of the Beacon Hill library siting process and the possible locations for the new library. Following public comment and discussion, the board is expected to narrow its list of library site alternatives to two or three. Library staff will then begin property negotiations for these sites. After the negotiations are completed - which could take several months - the board will make a final siting decision. The Library Board most recently held an open house on Sept. 8 to review and gather public comment on the opportunities and constraints of 12 siting options involving seven sites. Tables with detailed site information, including large maps and aerial photos of different locations were available.
The sites have been evaluated on a number of criteria, including the ability to meet library program and parking requirements, ability to expand the building for future growth, neighborhood prominence, ease of access, public transit access, extraordinary on-site construction costs, costs associated with street/alley vacations, adjacent land uses, proximity to proposed Sound Transit Station construction conflicts, and other factors.
Of the 12 options, the board has identified six of the options as having the most potential for further consideration. These include:
More information is available at the Beacon Hill Library, 2519 15th Ave. S., and on the Library's Web site: www.spl.org. Comment forms are available at the library. Comments may also be e-mailed to: capital.program@spl.org, mailed to: Capital Program Office, 1000 4th Ave., Seattle, Wash. 98104, or faxed to: Capital Program Office, 386-4108.
The new 10,000-square-foot library is a project of the Libraries for All program approved by voters in November. The $4.7 million library is scheduled to open in 2001 and will have a capacity for more than 30,000 books, special collections in Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese, seating for up to 90 patrons, special areas for young adults and homework programs, modern computer work stations and instructional spaces, a multipurpose meeting room, adult reference reading areas and parking.
(For more information, call Andra Addison, public information officer, at 206-386-4103.)
Return to the list of Libraries for All press release headlines
Content modified: 13 October 1999
12/30/2005
© 1999-2006 - The Seattle Public Library