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Keep Dialogue Going On Downtown Library

Keep Dialogue Going On Downtown Library image
Parent Issue
Day
13
Month
May
Year
2004
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
Editorial
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Keep dialogue going on downtown library

Parking, access issues need a solution

Much of the focus of the Ann Arbor District Library, when it comes to improving its facilities, continues to be on its branches. Mallets Creek opened in January, ground will be broken in the summer for an Oak Valley branch and sites for three other branches in northeast and west Ann Arbor are being sought to replace aging units in strip malls. Library officials hope to have those branches built by 2010.

But library trustees and executives also say that soon it will be time to again make improvements to the main structure downtown at Fifth Avenue and William Street. In 1991, the facility there doubled in size to 100,000 square feet. But accessing the library at its Fifth Avenue entrance continues to be a problem, as at times does parking. Dropping off and picking up passengers by pausing on the one-way Fifth by the entrance often is difficult and sometimes impossible when other vehicles are lined up there doing the same. And it can be dangerous when the road is heavily trafficked, which is often.

Though the DDA and library don't yet sound close to an agreement, there's ample time to find one, and the people on both sides are more than capable of reaching one.

That’s why a new strategic plan approved by library trustees calls for a renovation, after the building of the branches, that would restructure the building so that its entrance faces William and a city parking lot owned by the Downtown Development Authority. A proposed rotary for the parking lot also would enhance vehicle access to the entrance along with passenger drop-off and pickup. Its creation would force the elimination of 16 spaces in the 213-space lot, however.

The DDA attempted to accommodate the library’s concerns last year by setting up two free, five-minute parking spaces on William along with two disabled spots. Those are on top of the 10-minute grace period the DDA affords library patrons in the lot, which also serves longer-term visitors to the library, university and elsewhere.

But library officials say the DDA’s tweaks haven’t solved the problem, and that if significant improvements can’t be made, the library may have to move.

That doesn’t appear to be a particularly attractive option. Getting the library another site with the same footage downtown almost certainly would be cost-prohibitive. And moving it into a significantly smaller space (officials say some offices could be moved to branch sites) could be a disservice to the 3,000 or so downtown residents and others who rely on a downtown location, especially if meeting and study space along with reference and reading materials consequently were minimized.

The option officials with the library and DDA should continue to tap is engaging in constructive dialogue - with each other, and with residents and city officials. The city may be razing the YMCA building across the street while keeping affordable housing there and partnering with the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority to create a bus facility, which could significantly impact any parking or building changes associated with the library. And, the city also has a financial stake in the parking lot’s future: It netted the city $273,000 last year.

Though the DDA and library don’t yet sound close to an accommodation, there’s ample time to find one, and the people on both sides are more than capable of reaching one.

Says DDA Executive Director Susan Pollay, “What we heard (from library officials) was the need. What’s being explored is, ‘Let’s find a way to help solve that need.’” But maybe, she added, “there’s some other ways to do this that don’t create unintended consequences.”