Letter from Francis Loewald Lewisboro Library Board of Trustees President March 2009

Dear Residents of Lewisboro:

For the past ten years the Trustees of the Library have been trying to expand the library facility in order to provide a less crowded space for existing and additional programs for the residents of Lewisboro and to house a collection that has long outgrown the current building. Over the past few months the current direction of this effort has been reviewed in local newspapers, at the annual meeting of the Library Association and at a working session of the Town Board.

The current plan calls for the Town to purchase the library building in South Salem and provide space for a new library to be built in the Town Park on Route 35. This is a plan that the Town Board suggested to the Library Trustees in 2006. This plan has generated positive and negative reactions. In fact a petition is being circulated by a group that is against the plan. In view of the petition, the Trustees felt it was appropriate to distribute the enclosed brochure in the form of answers to frequently asked questions in hopes of providing residents with a balanced discussion of the issues.

The decision to agree to sell the current building and move to the Town Park was a difficult one for the Trustees. Therefore, it is not surprising that some residents would prefer that the Library remain at its current site. The authors of the petition raise three main objections. First, some residents now can walk or bicycle to the Library; that would be more problematic at the proposed new site. However, driving to the Library is what most residents of Lewisboro have to do now and would have to do at any alternate site. Second, moving to the Town Park would not be consistent with the Town’s Master Plan. That document was adopted more that twenty years ago (and not updated) as a statement of policy and recommendations, in essence a guideline. It is not a law or regulation. Third, the petitioners point out that the Town and the Library will have to raise additional funds. It is also true that any library expansion and any construction by the Town to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) will require additional funds.

At the end of the day, residents signing the petition believe it is more important to keep the Library at its current location, and avoid building in the Town Park, than to meet the library needs of the community as identified twelve years go by the Trustees and the community through a survey, needs that are even more urgent today. If the library is forced to stay at its current location and complete only a minor expansion, Lewisboro residents will, in all likelihood, face the same issues again a few years from now and solutions will be even more costly. We hope that residents will consider all aspects of this important issue as it affects a very important service to residents of all the hamlets that are part of the Town of Lewisboro.

We welcome your questions and opinions. Our e-mail address is lewisborolibrary@gmail.com. For more information about the Library, its facility and its programs, we hope you will visit the Library and view our website.

Sincerely,

Francis Loewald

Building Update FAQ's

Overcrowding Pictures

Francis Loewald's Presentation to the Annual Meeting January 2009


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