Wilmington receives $3.38m library construction grant

If Wilmington voters approve an approximately $11.6 million new library this fall, it will come with a nearly 30 percent discount, now that the state has promised a $3.38 million grant for the project.

Wilmington was one of seven communities in the state approved for a library construction grant by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners last week.

Belmont and Woburn made the state's waiting list for construction grants.

Wilmington's grant award comes with a deadline: Voters must approve the project by Jan. 7 or the town loses the grant.

The project proposal is expected to go to a special election and special Town Meeting in the fall. The project would require a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion, which would increase the town's property tax levy beyond the state limit during the life of the loan to pay for the project. State law limits annual property tax increases to 2.5 percent plus allowances for new growth.

''This grant is a wonderful opportunity for residents to get a new library at approximately 30 percent off the cost," said library director Tina Stewart .

Town Meeting approved the design of the proposed new library this past April.

Library officials say the current 15,000-square-foot library at 175 Middlesex Ave., built in 1969, is cramped, lacking space for the library's collections. A children's computer is in a hallway and an Internet workstation is on a stairway landing, Stewart said.

The new library, at about 34,000 square feet, would have an expanded children's room with a separate area for story time and crafts, an area for teenagers, study areas, a large meeting room that would be accessible even when the library is closed, a computer room, and a climate-controlled local history room.

''I think the new library is going to be a community place that will serve the needs of Wilmington for many years to come," Stewart said in an interview.

The library would be built at 140 Middlesex Ave. on the site of the Swain School, a town-owned vacant building that would be demolished.

Wilmington's grant is guaranteed if voters approve the project, while Belmont and Woburn are among 25 communities that made the waiting list. They will become eligible for grants soon if the state Legislature appropriates more money than expected or if enough other towns and cities in front of them on the list opt not to approve projects in their communities. Otherwise, they will remain on the waiting list for an indefinite period.

Belmont library officials are happy to be on the waiting list, since they're not quite ready to go forward with their project, said library director Maureen Conners.

Belmont's plan calls for demolishing the current 29,600-square-foot library at 366 Concord Ave. and replacing it with a new 45,000-square-foot building estimated to cost about $21 million.

Belmont's current library, built in 1965, lacks enough space for materials, programs, quiet study, and social areas, and needs more accessibility for the disabled, better climate control, and better support for new technologies, including computers, Conners said.

The state's library commissioners ranked Belmont 13th on the waiting list for a grant, which would be for about $4.63 million.

Conners said she expects the announcement will help the Belmont Library Foundation raise money for the project privately.

''Before we were on the wait list, you just didn't know what was going to happen," Conners said. ''For fund-raising purposes, it will really help."

Woburn officials aren't sure whether landing 23d on the waiting list, for a potential $4.15 million grant, is good news or not, said Judith A. Kelley, president of Woburn's board of library trustees.

Woburn library officials hope to build a major addition to the library at 45 Pleasant St., a 19th-century stone building designed by H.H. Richardson.

The current building doesn't have enough room for the library's collections or for computers, has an inadequate children's room, has deficient handicapped accessibility, and lacks study areas, Kelley said.

''I'm not sure how excited to get about this," Kelley said, referring to the state grant award, ''because I don't have a feel for what state government is going to do. If they're going to fund it, then it's wonderful news, because our library has needed an addition for several years."