Library Entrance Project To Move Forward
Rendering of new entrance – image courtesy City of Prince George
Prince George, B.C. – It is time for the proposed Library entrance upgrade to be taken off the “unfunded” list and put into the “funded” category of the Capital Plan.
That’s the argument presented by Councillor Terrie McConnachie as Council debated the Capital plan for 2017 through 2021
The revamped entrance has a price tag of $2.472 million dollars and has been on the unfunded capital plan for several years . The current entrance is an accessibility issue, and a safety issue for those who use the elevator which sees patrons exit the building directly into traffic.
Councillor Terrie McConnachie says the entrance and other projects planned for the library including a new roof, be bundled together into one package. She also wants to see the project completed by the end of 2018.
“I think it’s time we make the decision and move on with the project” said Councillor Frank Everitt.
“The amount is not as important as creating a safe environment for the Library’s patrons and its employees” said Councillor Susan Scott.
Administration will be coming back to Council with details on the financial options and impacts.
The project is not likely to have any impact on the budget until late 2018 or early 2019.
Comments
2.4 million for a library entrance that has sufficed the last 35 years? What a waste of money.
Not only that, when the civic centre was built the rotund was supposed to solve the problem !!
Why do we continue to have city staff who cannot work with architects and engineers to assess whether building projects will function properly?
Change the traffic paternity by 90 degrees and the safety issue at the parking entrance will go away.
How many incidents of injury have there been?
Agree, how many people enter from the front, you can’t park in the front? Whenever we use the library we park underground and use the stairs, just change the traffic pattern underground and problem solved
Even if the traffic pattern cannot be rotated 90 degrees without losing more than 1 parking space, an alternate method would be to remove 1 parking space to the south side of the elevator/stair shaft, which makes a space of about 8ft x 14ft or so as a glassed lobby with door swing out against the concrete wall without intruding into the traffic aisle, in addition to a 3 to 4 foot “protected” area to the outside so that one can stand there until any traffic passes by.
Similar protected exits can be seen in many hotel and retail underground parkades in larger cities.
The question is why did the library Architect not do that in the first place? Guess he was not a details person, or the City changed it.
More important is why has someone at the City not considered this approach? If they did, why was it rejected?
Oh, if the concrete wall acts as a shear wall, which it likely does, then cut the opening and reinforce it to maintain the shear integrity function.
Let’s address the needs before the wants. Our underground infrastructure is crumbling, let’s fix it first! How many water main breaks have there been in the past 12 months? Too many.
If you look at your utility bill the dramatic increases we have seen and will continue to see is to build a reserve to pay for repairs to underground services going forward. I can’t the exact figures but if memory serves it was something like a 20% annual increase in sewer and water rates over a few years to build the pot up.
Do you think rates will return to normal once the cookie jar is full?
What kills me about mayor and council fretting about the library entrance project sitting on the unfunded list is an item slightly lower on the same list.
In the 2016-2020 Provisional Financial Plans item #23 is the project with an associated cost of $3.74 million but if you scroll down a bit further on the ubfunded list at #48 you will find a line item:
48-#1050 Library Roof Replacement-DOP
Replace the 25 year old Library roof with new torch on membranes.
Capital Expenditure Reserve 370
So they can justify spending $2.4 million on a shiny new entrance, down from $3.7 million, but not $370k to ensure the roof does not leak in the near future. Reasoning being that paper can absorb a LOT of water or just par for the course with the city once again ignoring basic building maintenance?
Guess Lyn could not have a nice photo op on a new library roof.
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