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February 28, 2006

The Beginning of the Beginning

Two recent events have highlighted the first stages of the Library's project to construct a new building at the corner of Post Road and Hecker Avenue.

First off was demolition on January 31st of the buildings which previously housed the automobile repair shop and Splash car wash. They were demolished to make way for eventual construction, but our immediate purpose was to undertake an environmental cleanup of the site.

We will clear out all the underground tanks from the old gas station, and remove any contaminated soil. At the same time we are drilling test borings to check for the conditions on which the building will be constructed, but we will also be checking for such things as the rate at which water percolates through the soil, and to determine if we can drill geothermal wells to provide environmentally-friendly heating and cooling for the new building.

The other major step forward was the adoption by Planning & Zoning on February 21st of a Municipal Use Zone, which, if approved for use by the Library, would allow greater flexibility in erecting a building that fits the Library's planning. We will be filing a request that Planning & Zoning designate the site at Hecker and Post Road as a Municipal Use Zone.

Certainly, these are just first steps, but they are important first steps. They are not, to use Winston Churchill's famous phrase, "the end of the beginning," but we feel comfortable in saying they are the beginning of the beginning.

We hope that the result is a new library building that will be ready for occupancy in the fall of 2008.

Posted by Alan Kirk Gray at 02:07 PM | Comments (1)