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that would later become a significant issue. Instead,
the city hired well-known library consultant,
Margaret Beckman, to act as liaison.
Efforts now focussed on integrating the reduced
project into the architectural designs prepared to
date so it could be presented to a city-wide poll of
citizens in the fall.
Over the spring and summer, as final designs
were being completed, the many and varied players
involved in the project became a dimension in itself .
Two distinct camps were emerging and becoming
increasingly entrenched in their respective, and
sometimes polarized, views. The library staff and
independent library consultants (first Bowron and
then Beckman) fought for design and layout prin-
ciples generally held for modem libraries. The
architect and the Library Project Steering Com-
mittee based design decisions on principles of
architectural and heritage preservation that had
been adopted earlier..
Council members sometimes provided a third
dimension, still questioning both the demolition
of the 1959 annex and the proposed contemporary
glass north entrance which they found over-
powering. Even the architect himself , the mayor
says, complained about "unqualified members"
of the steering committee over-ruling him, about
involvement of the city's Architectural and
Planning Commission and about the difficulties
of working with the different positions taken by
the two city councils.
1959 Annex:
To stay or not to stay?
"There was a terrible problem of doctrinaire
attitudes with some of these experts," says Coun-
cillor Lehnert. "It made a very difficult and
complex project even more complex."
While design details continued to be debated
behind closed doors, plans were far enough along to
be submitted to residents for their approval in the
promised poll. A 12-page information booklet
explaining the project's rationale and cost was sent
to 9,949 addresses on November 12, 1992. The
$7.5 million project, as presented, would include a
new $3 million wing to replace the smaller 1959
annex. The remaining $4.5 million would be spent
on the original Findlay building: $2.2 million to
restore its Victorian splendour and $2.3 million to
repair and save it "from irreversible damage".
The project would be financed through a loan
by-law of $7.5 million though the city hoped to
offset $1.5 million of this through a fundraising
campaign. The brochure said financing could be
expected to add about $120 per year for 10 years to
the tax bill of the average single-family dwelling.
"Do you support the Library Renewal Project
as described in this Information Package?" residents
were asked. Yes, replied 77.4 percent. With approval
from 1,411 of the 1,822 who returned their ballot,
the project was a "go", the mayor announced
exuberantly at the city council meeting December
7, 1992.
Comments and suggestions from the poll were
reviewed. Some said: put the project on hold for
improved economic conditions, make only essential
repairs, increase parking and charge non-residents
a user fee.
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