No fee hike plans as library tables $52.9M budget
Board also discusses how $193-million superlibrary will be unveiled to public
The Ottawa Public Library Board has tabled a $52.9-million budget for next year that holds the line on overdue fines and other public user fees.
The library proposes to spend $150,000 on additional copies of books and materials that are in high demand, while spending $250,000 to enhance security at the Rideau branch, which is popular with drug users. Security guards were added to the city’s main branch last year.
The budget was presented at a board meeting Tuesday that also featured a spirited discussion about how the city should unveil its design for Ottawa’s new downtown super library.
The $193-million library — a shared facility between the Ottawa Public Library and Library and Archives Canada — is now in the final design phase. The public is expected to get a chance to see the proposed design in January.
But the spectre of past civic disasters, both in Ottawa and elsewhere, freighted the discussion Tuesday of how to unveil the new library plans.
Coun. Riley Brockington said he wanted the library board to get a chance to review and comment on
the design before it’s unveiled to the general public.
“I want to see the illustrations of the actual building,” he said, adding:
“We’ve seen some horrendous designs across this country. We’ve seen LRT stations that don’t meet public expectations that we were never engaged in when we could have provided input.”
Edmonton’s new downtown public library, now under construction, has been denounced widely as unsightly.
Brockington said that despite the confidence he has in the team behind Ottawa’s library project, the board has an obligation to review the design before it is made public.
Coun. Tim Tierney, chair of the library board, said that while he understands Brockington’s argument — “We’ve all gone through the Château Laurier expansion debacle. Nobody wants that,” he said — board members will not have a final say over the design.
The process, Tierney said, has been designed to maximize public input.
“We are letting the people build the building. It has nothing to do with us,” Tierney argued. “We shouldn’t be picking the paint samples for the walls or what kind of carpet is going in.”
Tierney said library board members will be able to offer their opinions after the designs have been made public.
“I’d be afraid we’d be accused of interfering with a very public process to date,” Tierney said, pointing to Edmonton as a “prime example” of what can happen when an architect’s plan is repeatedly modified.
That design went through three modifications, he said, that failed to match the vision for the building.
Danielle McDonald, chief executive of the Ottawa Public Library, called the discussion premature since the final designs are not yet complete.
Brockington continued to insist, however, that he wanted the ability to see the plans before they were made public, and his request ultimately was sent to staff to be reviewed.
Simon Dupuis, the city’s manager of design and consultation, told the board that the library project is on target to be completed and opened by the end of 2024.
Dupuis said architects have decided on a five-storey rather than a six-storey building through the “natural evolution of design.” Visitors will move between floors via stairs and elevators, rather than escalators.
“At this point, escalators are not considered good practice in these types of facilities,” Dupuis said. “They’re not considered accessible.”
The city’s fourth round of public consultations on the super library will take place Nov. 18-20. People will be asked to comment on the library’s iconic features and finishing touches. aduffy@postmedia.com