Council Pushing Forward for New Library Entrance
Conceptual drawing of proposed new entrance for P.G. Library – image courtesy P.G. Public Library
Prince George, BC – The Prince George Public Library is one step closer to having a new entrance.
Although not on the “funded” list of the City’s Capital Plan for 2014, Councillor Dave Wilbur, who is the Council representative on the Library’s Board, says there is an “Immediate need for a safe, secure and mobility friendly street level entrance to the library.”
The Library has a plan that carries a $2.5 million dollar price tag.
Council has referred the request for the $2.5 million dollars to Administration to make every reasonable effort to complete the project in time for the 2015 Canada Winter Games, and that the project be moved into the list of “funded” projects for the 2014 Capital Plan.
City Manager Beth James says staff have some ideas on how the funding might happen, but would like to work with the Library to create a more detailed development plan.
James says two areas of possible funding have already been identified, one is the accumulated surplus and the other is the endowment fund.
Mayor Green says she has spoken with Northern Development Initiative Trust, and there are programs within NDIT that could provide some funding, up to $250 thousand, and certainly the City would be able to make an application to tap into that fund.
“I would like to see this happen” says Councillor Murry Krause “The library has been asking for this for a very long time and they’re right, it does need to be done, but it really is a case of where does it fit with everything else ( on the unfunded capital plan) I am happy to move it to the funded, the money doesn’t need to be spent if the project is not viable.”
The concern for Mayor Shari Green is if the work can be done in time for the Games. “So, for example, if the time lines are tight and it can’t be completed prior to the Winter Games, we don’t want to be in the middle of construction in the middle of the Civic Plaza that’s also undergoing some beautification, plus the Delta (hotel) will be finishing and so can they integrate into this library project? So if it couldn’t technically be completed in time, are there parts of it, and I assume that’s something that will be determined with the Library?”
“If it can be done in time, it’s great” says Councillor Koehler.
Councillor Frank Everitt says he thinks the “train has already left the Library” and the $2.5 million is a lot of money, especially at a time when the City says it doesn’t have a lot to spend “I think it’s important that we get the review from Administration and we get to know what the firm price is and what we are doing is appropriate. If it can be done for less all the better, but I want to see that, rather than just jump over the edge here and say let’s do it because it looks good and the Games are coming.”
City Manager Beth James says Administration’s intent would be to come back to Council with an explanation what could be accomplished within the $2.5 million dollars also, ballpark figures on the full scope and possible phased construction.
Comments
Thank you Frank for the common sense approach to this latest request for more money .I do agree the entrance at bottom of library is not the most appealing ,but lets tackle one project at a time . Its like painting the interior of your house .Do we just go ahead and tear into every room and have a hell of a mess ,or we can finish one at a time and move on to the next .
You would think the Queen was coming to town again with all these lets fix everything now projects .
Why was this not included in the Civic Plaza Enhancement Project Planning Team’s stakeholder and community input process?
The Library is a major stakeholder in the Civic Plaza Enhancement Project, yet no mention was made of this “Immediate need for a safe, secure and mobility friendly street level entrance to the library.â FROM THE PLAZA NO LESS!!!
PHASE 2 â May, 2013, Engagement with Stakeholders and Community Partners: The Project Team will provide opportunities for review and input of the Design Concept through individual and group meetings with Key Stakeholders and Community Partners.
PHASE 3 â May, 2013, Public Engagement Process: The Project Team will invite feedback from the general public through a public consultation process that will include an open house, website and other forms of social media.
PHASE 4 â June, 2013, Final Design Concept A presentation of the final design concept will be made to key stakeholders, community partners and general public.
– See more at: http://www.theexplorationplace.com/pg100/pg100-projects#sthash.n552X2Vt.dpuf
This has to be complete incompetence by the Project Team to have not included this Library need, and incorporated this “immediate Library need” into the Plaza Design. Wow… who is running this dog and pony show?
$2.5 million should go to a referendum next election. I think the city should have been proactive in working with the Delta proposal to see if a common entrance could have been done with private funding.
Looks like we are starting the battle of building entrances at the continuing expense of the taxpayer. Notice the rotunda canopy is not even visible for the visual dominance it actually has.
If you have ever been to the Library and have accessed it by the “butt” of the building from the parking level you know how not to design a building entrance. For far too long, this was the ONLY entrance for those with movement handicaps. It was also the entrance of least resistance for those arriving by car.
If you have accessed it from the outdoor stair of the building, you know how not to design a building entrance in a “Winter City”.
If you have accessed it from the “rotunda” joining the Civic Centre with the Library, you accessed it from an attempt at solving the shortcomings of the original building âtemporaryâ entrances by proving a weather protected âporte-cochèreâ style entrance to both the Civic Centre and the Library. This entrance gives ground level access to the Civic Centre as well as second level access to the first floor of the library. BTW, that second level, which is the first floor level of the library, is also at the level of the ground floor of the Coast Inn.
Why did these three mediocre attempts at providing a rational access to a popular and major public building happen? Easy. The Library was part of a design for the Cultural Centre of PG in the late 1970s. The winning design of a national competition had a fundamental approach of providing ground level parking for the whole precinct with buildings being placed at the level above the parking as they got built. To put it simply, the level of downtown at Brunswick, which is considerably higher than the flood plain, was to be the main floor level of all subsequent buildings in the precinct.
Along came the Civic Centre, which was built without additional parking and slightly below the 200 year flood plain. The gallery was built a bit higher, likely since it had to be built to national museum standard for protection of collections and travelling exhibits. Again, parking was removed from the site and not replaced while parking demand was increased.
From my point of view, we have had one bad decision after another. The exclusion of commercial space, which was part of the original functional requirement to be included in the precinct, was another major mistake.
From the sketch, it looks like we will have an entrance which will compete with the rotunda, instead of working with the rotunda and fixing the âmistakesâ made with the design of that little used entrance.
As was already pointed out, this needs to be co-ordinated with any changes in the Civic Centre Plaza.
We have a library? Really? Who uses the library anymore these days? The train left the building more than 20 years ago.
Here is a novel idea for a city who is broke and it’s council thinks the only way to raise money is by taxing the crap out of it’s tax payers; instead of starting new unneeded projects… TAKE CARE OF OUR CURRENT INFRASTRUCTURE!
I don’t even need to type out comments anymore, just copy and paste this one every time the City comes up with another way to waist my hard earned money!
“an âImmediate need for a safe, secure and mobility friendly street level entrance to the library.â
We already have that. The Rotunda Entrance!!!
So called street level. Safe. Secure.
The thing I do not understand is why that “corridor” that was provided at the library first floor level from the rotunda elevator was not extended the full width available on the upper deck.
In fact, we should be looking at the potential rational use for that deck at the same time.
Rush for the games? ….. Forget it!!!!
This is not the time to push through some more poorly thought out ticky tacky add-ons. The Library Board is just trying to jump on that band wagon because they see that it is a soft spot with Council at this time.
A continuation of poor, by the seat of the pants planning!!!!
Here is a novel idea for a city who is broke and it’s council thinks the only way to raise money is by taxing the crap out of it’s tax payers; instead of starting new unneeded projects… TAKE CARE OF OUR CURRENT INFRASTRUCTURE!
I love cut and paste …. LOL
BTW, with the widening of the “corridor”, work with a commercial provider of coffee places in town, put the deck to some money making use by setting up some seats in that widened corridor for coffee/tea, etc. drinkers with the service part and additional seating provided either on the east side deck or the west end of the north facing deck.
“City Manager Beth James says …….. (she) would like to work with the Library to create a more detailed development plan.”
Wow, what a rational concept! There is hope that we may have someone in charge who knows what her role is and what needs to be done!!!
It will take some time to change the mindset of the Library Board as well as some on Council to start with a function analysis first.
The “rendering looks pretty” …. but we can give that to 10 people and get 10 different answers to what they see there.
The first thing I see is MUCH MORE THAN $2.5 MILLION!!!!
Comment Posted by: PGMAKESMECRAZY on December 5 2013 7:16 AM
Here is a novel idea for a city who is broke and it’s council thinks the only way to raise money is by taxing the crap out of it’s tax payers; instead of starting new unneeded projects… TAKE CARE OF OUR CURRENT INFRASTRUCTURE!
I too agree. This is the only statement that needs to be said here anymore. ;)
The bottom entrance to the library is gross, and should probably be fixed. If they spent what they have already spent on the PAC, they’d be done with it by now.
I also agree with what Gus said at 7:05. If this is going to be done, it should be done “right”.
I noticed the part of the money would come out of “accumulated surplus”. Now I know that all families need savings to fall back on if income stops coming in so the City should have some surplus. BUT I would like to know how much “accumulated surplus” there is before my taxes go up again.
Gus is correct that the design does not blend in with the rest of the plaza and that the biggest mistake was not making all the civic centre & art gallery the same level as the library. It could still be done as the art gallery and civic centre are two stories and you would just have to change how you enter the buildings. I was told they did it they way they did as some one at City Hall did not understand that you could have a plaza on top of a parking lot.
Hardly a day goes by without the City (which claims it has no money) announcing yet another urgent *must have as soon as possible because of the winter games* wish list expensive project!
Not to forget the endless expensive studies without which absolutely nothing can be ventured, of course!
If it is “must have as soon as possible” why is the library spending money on a library garden instead of the entrance?
We voted in the bling, the rest can got to ….
NoWay:
“We have a library? Really? Who uses the library anymore these days? The train left the building more than 20 years ago. “
The library serves over 1200 people a day at the Bob Harkins and Nechako branches. This makes it the most used building in Prince George per diem.
You might want to see what the library is doing. It might surprise you.
http://www.lib.pg.bc.ca
Latest annual report:
http://www.lib.pg.bc.ca/sites/default/files/documents/2011-annual-report.pdf
Thank you to Gus for an explanation of why the entrance used by 95% of library users is essentially an emergency exit industrial stairwell. Also, thank you for stating all the points I would like to make. I hope someone at the city is listening. We could spend $10 Million on a fancy entrance to the library and it would still be rarely used as long as the parking lot is under the library.
Graymare:
“If it is “must have as soon as possible” why is the library spending money on a library garden instead of the entrance?”
The library is funding this project purely through fundraising and donations.
Other than the obvious design flaws (I used to think it was another Arthur Erickson disaster but apparently it was designed by an Erickson impersonator), I love the library.
Put a rose on a turd and it’s still a turd. I use the library but it’s been a hideous concrete bunker since the day it was designed.
I hope they didn’t spend to much for that conceptual drawing. Yikes !
âImmediate need for a safe, secure and mobility friendly street level entrance to the library.â Really??
First of all, unless you raise the “street level” up about twelve feet, you’ll never have a “street level” entrance.
Secondly, why is there such an “immediate need” for it after all these years?
I suppose next, there will be an “immediate need” for a PAC!
PGMAKESMECRAZY is right. Let’s stop trying to impress the world with who we are not and get back to basics, taking care of this city and its citizens first!!
the present parking lot stairway entrance is efficient but certainly ugly and beat up…I think the proposed covered entrance is an attempt to have “covered bleachers” for spectators at the Winter Games functions in the Plaza…Does anyone know if the vehicle entrance change to the parking lot stays when the hotel is completed?? if it stays there will certainly be congestion problems .
If this is such an immediate need and has not been planned for, fire the planning manager! geesh…
Kolberg wrote: “We could spend $10 Million on a fancy entrance to the library and it would still be rarely used as long as the parking lot is under the library.”
BINGO!!!!!!!!
That is why the Rotunda is a poor design. They could have fixed that problem at the time that was designed. It is immediately adjacent to the parking.
I think a much more rational approach would be to put in the second level of parking that the building is designed for, loose the “building on stilts” look, and alter part of the rotunda to access both levels of the parking structure.
In addition, I would widen the “corridor” leading to the library to take advantage of the full width of deck available there to get rid of the “afterthought” look of the entrance to the building.
Finally, make sure that those who approved the pretentious design of the RCMP building are not involved with such a project. Start by going to those who have done recent designs for the UNBC, CNC and PGRH and the airport.
Gus’s 7:05 post is ‘right on’ well said.
metalman.
The planning manager? Fire the person in charge of civic properties!!!!!
Planning has no involvement with such matters.
Shisho wrote: “The library is funding this project purely through fundraising and donations.”
And that makes a bad decision right????
I do not care what Canfor or the Bay does with bad decisions which involves their money.
Anyone who has been given the trust of either donors or taxpayers should be more responsible for selecting projects which will not be a waste of the money with which they have been entrusted!
Two words: gong show.
Mayor Green is right about oen thing: there isn’t enough time for this project.
400 days to create a development plan, seek out funds, put out an RFP, award a contract and build the thing, in the midst of all the other construction projects happening in the plaza and at Delta, plus the renovations already approved for the library washrooms. 3 different major contractors working in the same space? Gong show indeed.
Gus:”Fire the person in charge of civic properties!!!!!”
Why stop there?
Shisdeo: “The library serves over 1200 people a day at the Bob Harkins and Nechako branches. This makes it the most used building in Prince George per diem.
You might want to see what the library is doing. It might surprise you.
http://www.lib.pg.bc.ca
Latest annual report:
http://www.lib.pg.bc.ca/sites/default/files/documents/2011-annual-report.pdf“
Where’s the report for 2012? That report is useless in that it doesn’t give any attendance numbers, or how many items were borrowed. How many people have library cards and regularly use them? Those are the figures I want to see. I don’t want to see how many questions library staff answered.
1200 people a day? I wonder how much those 1200 people per day pay for a user fee? What is the charge at the public pools? Or the ice arenas??
I bet if they started collecting now they could finance that new entrance in no time.
I have no use for a library I get what need online. As far as I’m concerned they could bulldoze the place and build a parking lot. The public library is as obsolete as an encyclopedia salesman at your door.
The librarys in Prince George still provide a valuable service to many local residents. My wife and I are in one of the branches an average of once a week. There are always other people coming and going, not just borrowing and returning books, but usually someone on the computers, borrowing a CD or DVD, reading the newspaper, plus the kids enjoying the children’s section.
This new entrance idea is too much, too late, for inclusion in the 2015 games plans.
metalman.
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