Delaware State News
DOVER — A stately library could arise where the Dover post office now stands. And next to it might be a line of trees thick enough to hide the sea of asphalt that serves as parking lot for the post office and City Hall.
Then again ...
"A lot of things are still up in the air," says Douglas Moss, a partner in the New York City firm the city has hired to design a replacement for the existing, cramped Dover Public Library on South State Street.
Yet to be decided is:
• Where to locate the facility. It could be in any of several spots on the city-owned property that includes the post office and the parking lot, or it could be somewhere else entirely.
• How big it should be. Everyone involved agrees it must be much larger than the 17,000-square-foot building it would replace. Twice as large? Three times? Should it be one story high? Two stories, like much of Lockermann Street? Or higher, like nearby state government buildings?
• What belongs inside it. Generous space for children and teenagers? Room for performances that would draw scores of viewers? Far more computers than currently offered?
Answers to those questions and more may come from a series of public meetings to gather suggestions. The next such session is scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 2, at a location to be announced.
At one of those meetings, last week at Presbyterian Church of Dover, much of the discussion focused on what Mr. Moss agreed is a "really horrific" parking situation in the City Hall vicinity. But if the U.S. Postal Service follows through on plans to relocate within the Dover area, he said, more parking spaces will become available. Another possibility, albeit not cheap, is construction of a parking garage, he said.
Dover officials have directed that the City Hall vicinity receive special consideration as a potential library site.
"The biggest advantage (of locating there) is the city owns that land," said Jim Stewart, a member of the steering committee of the estimated $18.5 million library project. "That’s a tremendous advantage."
As for the library itself, Nicole Colbert, a Dover mother of teenagers, said kids want more than they are getting from their local library. "They want movies, audiovisuals. They want to come to the library to work on projects. They want their room where they can make noise."
City resident Jack Gardner called for the creation of a large multipurpose room, noting that examples of such rooms can be found in the public libraries of Rehoboth Beach and Seaford.
Others called for an environmentally friendly facility. Mr. Moss said his firm, Holzman-Moss Architecture, has experience in that area. It designed a library that is the first building in Charlotte, N.C., to be certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, he said.
The LEED program is widely regarded as a benchmark in the development of buildings that use energy efficiently, provide healthy indoor air and meet other environmental goals.
