This week the Haines Borough Planning Commission approved a 35 to 65 percent design plan for the public library expansion project.
The project design adds an additional 4,200 square feet to the library, increasing meeting space, activity areas, staff space, storage space and mechanical space. In June, cost estimates for the design were between $2.4 million and $2.6 million, accounting for inflation to reflect bid prices in 2020. The variation in price accounts for features of the design plan that MRV has deemed optional if the borough has budget constraints.
As of last month, the Library Expansion Addition Project fund had only $129,000, said library director, Carolyn Goolsby. To raise the funds, “It’s going to take years,” she said.
If funding were available, MRV Architects, the Juneau firm that is leading the expansion project, said that construction could begin in 2020. Goolsby said the library will try to raise funds in the community, through the borough and through a matching grant from the Rasmuson Foundation.
“We appreciate the donors we have,” Goolsby said. “The original library was a community effort, and that’s why it won so many awards. This (project) will be again.”
MRV’s Zane Jones, an architect on the project, told the CVN, “We’re most proud of Haines library out of many of our projects. We just think it’s a beautiful, fantastic building. We intend to expand on that.”
According to library staff, the building is currently short on work and storage space. “Oftentimes, programs reach capacity of the community room. To continue to meet and exceed the needs and demands, the space issue will need to be looked at,” they wrote to the planning commission.
Jones said the main components of the expansion address these needs. “The staff will get more breathing space, and the community will have a lot more capacity for community events. (The library) will function even better than it does now,” he said.
Jones said the community room will expand but not encroach on the Haines school track. He said the plan replaces the foldable partition that creates private and non-private space in the community room. The new wall will be made of glass.
Jones said an addition for staff will include more storage and office space. Right now, Jones said, “they are really crammed in there.”
The expansion project design includes features that will make the building more energy efficient. “We intend to add exterior insulation—a rigid foam insulation to the exterior of the framing,” Jones said.
Jones said they will replace the windows with high-grade, triple-glazed windows that increase efficiency as well.
The building will receive a mechanical system upgrade. “Right now, it’s just heating and ventilation,” Jones said. “A big portion of the expansion will be an electric heat pump, which could (also) run air conditioning in the summer.”