How much money can Plainsboro expect to raise from private sources for the construction of a new township library?##M:[more]##
That’s the question a consultant is expected to answer in a report to the township committee sometime next month. The study, being conducted by Graham-Pelton Consulting of Summit at a cost of $25,”000, has been ongoing since August, according to Township Administrator Robert Sheehan.
“What they’re doing is a feasibility study in preparation of a full fundraising campaign,” says Sheehan. “The study will help us make a determination as to the prospects and reasonable targets for the fundraising campaign.”
The ultimate goal is to lessen the amount of taxpayer money spent on the library. According to Sheehan, the cost of the new library — to be built in the Town Center development off Schalks Crossing Road — was estimated to be $9 million in 2003. Since then the cost has risen some 10 percent, and may rise another 5 to 10 percent by the time the project is bid, says Sheehan.
The study includes interviews with the Plainsboro community “broadly defined,” says Sheehan as to what the township might be able to achieve in its fundraising efforts. “There were roughly 80 invitations sent out to library patrons, citizens active in the community, corporate citizens, and library supporters. They were asked to give about 45 minutes of their time to conduct an interview to gauge their feeling of the importance of the library in the community. The interviews are now in the latter stages.”
After the consultant submits the results of the study, the township committee will determine the next steps in the process. “That’s likely to be a broad fundraising campaign,” says Sheehan.
“We’re hopeful that we will be able to get meaningful dollars,” he adds. “We were very fortunate to get significant (monetary) support for the environmental education center (in the Plainsboro Preserve). Given the important role the library plays in this community, and the good fortune we have in having wonderful corporate citizens, we’ve got some real possibilities.”
Meanwhile, design work has already started on the library. In August, the Committee approved a $765,”000 contract with George Schieferdecker of BKSK Architects of New York City for full design services for the new building.
Although the project has not officially been given the green light, some funds have already been allocated. In June the committee adopted a $4 million bond ordinance that included $1.2 million for the library design.
Plans call for a new 34,”000-square-foot library to be the centerpiece of the mixed use Village Center project, being constructed by Sharbell Development. The library would be located at the eastern end of the village green.
Initially the township planned to expand the library at its current location on the township municipal site on Plainsboro Road, but decided to look at building a new library in the Village Center when plans for a YMCA in the development fell through. Sharbell, the project’s developer, will donate the land for the library to the township and do preparatory site work.
Last summer Schieferdecker submitted a feasibility study to the township that found that expanding the old library would cost just as much as constructing a new one.
The proposed new library would be a three-story structure with a ground floor that would include a lobby, computers, a section for periodicals, a community room that could be accessed by groups even if the library were closed, space for stacks, and a rear garden. The second floor would include study rooms, history room, reference office, art gallery, more computer space and stacks, as well as a cafe.
