Thank you all for coming. We're going to start address I guess we're going to start now. We're going to open our meeting and this meeting is a hybrid meeting which means we are open
to having people participate online. So we may be seeing some folks over there as well. And the requirement for the Commonwealth is that I just announced that. Okay. I would like to introduce our
committee to you. I'm Judy Connors Tarver and I am the chair of the library building committee and I'm going to let folks introduce themselves. Susan. Okay. I'm Susan Britta and I represent the planning committee on the library project committee.
John Greco. I'm the construction representative. I'm Joseph Leere. I'm a circulation supervisor for Yarmouth Town Libraries. Mindy Harrington, youth services supervisor for Yarmouth Town Libraries. Uh we also have representation from the
select board. Dorcas McGuran is our representative there and from the capital budget committee Sandy Fe and the vice chair is Tom Pendleton who also represents construction background. So we are really appreciative of your
attendance. Thank you for coming. This is a really significant uh project for the town of Yarmouth. So, there is a sign in sheet somewhere. Where is it now? On the table. There's one up front here and there's two out in the hallway.
Okay. So, we really would like you to sign in before you leave for sure. And we also have comment cards sprinkled around and we will collect those later. You can fill out more than one if you would like. Uh and we will as a
committee review them all. So the purpose of our meeting today is to bring you as attendees up to date on how we got where we are and to hear feedback. We will hear your feedback as we move this process forward. And then we're
going to have a project review and here's some ideas about how we can possibly use the site and what are some options for that. So how did we get here? There have been many studies and proposals over more
than 20 years and the most recent one that was presented in May 2024 to the select board identified several significant issues. um mainly insufficient space to s store books and
media, antiquated building systems, buildings that were not fully ADA compliant, and an inability to have certain programs and technology because we don't have the space or systems to
support those. So, in determining the needs for a library to serve our town with its population of 25,000 roughly and expanding to about 65,000 seasonally, which is why we're having
trouble run driving down 28 these days, we we need to have a library that's that serves our entire town and that has parking, outdoor programming space, and potential for expansion.
So that's how where those numbers came from. The library building committee reviewed nine applications from architects and we determined the best fit for our our community was Odinello
and we recommended them to the select board and that was approved. And then we moved into site selection and I know several of you participated with us in that process. We reviewed eight sites and all but one of those was owned by
the town and we had a public session on June 17 and reviewed that and then presented on June 24 to the board of selectmen uh the uh Simkins field site. So now we move
from those phases into the design phase and we're going to need to consider the Simpkins field site which is generously sized. Um and we have to also include the impact on past and potential
uses of that site and the impact on areas around it. What would the access to the building be? taking into consideration not only vehicles but pedestrians and bicyclists. So we are moving toward a proposal for
the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners to secure grant support and we need to meet a deadline of December to do that. Uh so that's our next phase now is the design phase with
our deadline in December. Okay. So, we want to be a little informal and make sure you have an opportunity to ask questions. Uh, but right now I want to introduce Matt Odens. He is from
Odenello architectural firm and he is going to review for you some potential uses of the site and the location of the building. Great. Thank you, Judy. Can everybody hear me? Okay. Uh, so I'm Matt Odens. Thank you all for
coming out today and thanks to the LBC for sitting through this presentation twice today. Um, I wanted to tell you a little bit about who we are first before we talk about your site, just so you know who it is that the town hired. Um, Odinello Architecture is a 12person
office. We're based in Boston. Um, we've been in practice since 2007. Prior to that, my uh business partner and I had worked for 10 years together at another mid-size firm in Boston where we focused on cultural projects mostly. Um, and our
sort of love of libraries or my personal love of libraries started back with a uh design for a new branch of the Boston Public Library in Alustin, uh, Mass back in 2000ish. Um, and since starting our practice,
we've built on that experience, and we have worked on quite a few libraries, and I'll talk about a couple of them specifically. Um, but this is kind of a cross-section of the libraries that we've done throughout New England. Most of the the libraries that we've worked
on are in Massachusetts, but a number of them are a little further a field. We're out in the Fingerlakes of New York, uh, up in Burlington, Vermont, conquered, New Hampshire. Um but and and they cover a pretty wide range of size from uh
40,000 square feet to 4,500 square feet, which is our one of our current projects in construction out in Western Mass. Um as I said, most of our library projects are regional. Uh we've done 26 projects for public libraries since 2009.
22 of those in Massachusetts and 15 of those with the MBLC. So, we're very familiar with the MBLC grant process. Um, we're very familiar with the with the MBLC staff and they're familiar with us and that helps in our conversations
with them. They we understand what they're looking for. They understand our perspective. We don't always agree. we have a healthy exchange with the MBLC and we're able to discuss things and debate relative merits of things and that's that's very helpful um as we
develop designs for a particular town. Every town is different. Every town's approach to each issue is a little bit different and so that that ability to have those conversations with them is really important. Um we have 10 completed library projects in Massachusetts. We have three in
construction right now. Um and again kind of reinforcing our relationship with the MBLC. Uh they put out a planning resource which was really meant as a kind of nationwide library best practices planning resource and
this was put out I think just before co um and of the 14 case studies in that in that book um three of our projects were included in the 14. So, um, it sort of reinforced for us that they recognize the the value of the work that we've
been contributing to, uh, the MBLC libraries. Um, one of our preoccupations, and this has to do with any public building, and we do, uh, in addition to public libraries, we do a lot of museum work, and there's a lot of
similarity in terms of um, visitorship. This is these are buildings with a public audience. They are intended to create environments that are welcoming, that are pleasant to be in, that you want to spend more time in, and you want to come back to. Um, and one of the
things that we think helps strengthen buildings is their relationship to the outdoors. And so all of our projects, and these are all library projects in Massachusetts, all of our projects look for ways to to create meaningful connections to outdoors. That can be
just windows that provide natural light and views of in the case of the upper right, the East Ham Library overlooking uh the the adjacent pond. Uh the lower left, an outdoor covered reading porch overlooking uh wooded wetlands behind
the library, reading porches, courtyards, reading gardens. all of these spaces that allow library users to get a little bit outside, connect themselves to their immediate context and and in a lot of cases sort of
recognize and capitalize on the the specific assets of that particular site. So for any site, we're looking for those opportunities where we can kind of tap into that something special. Um I mentioned the East Public Library. Some of you may be familiar with this. This
was completed in 2016. Uh this was a 17,500 ft addition to a 300 ft historic one room library. Um it is it borders a deep kettle pond. Uh it it's a lead gold
building. It's 100% um on-site renewable energy for net zero. Uh we restored the wetland between the building and the pond. moved parking out from behind the building and restored that entire 100 ft wetland buffer. Um took great pains to
to design the building in a way that dealt with storm water in a responsible way and um protected the watershed for the pond. Um and at the same time celebrated that location and um unlike its the predecessor there was an
addition that was built in the 80s. um we wanted to really take full advantage of that adjacency, but at the same time um create more intimate space. So the bottom right image is um a view of the reading garden that the building kind of shapes and and embraces. So there are
ways there are always ways to get from the inside the building to outdoor space. At the lower level, children have access to um to outdoor program space. And also that lower left, that's kind of a typical view looking out over the pond. And again, just maximizing
daylight and views is really important. Uh in Webster, which is uh west in the western part of the state, southwestern part of the state near the Connecticut border, we did a library that opened back in 2016, which is a little bit more urban. Um but one of the similarities
with this project is that it bordered a town green. So, in this photo, we're standing kind of with our back to town hall. Um, and there there was a previous building that was demolished. We uh built a new 21,000t building. So,
similar in size um but maybe not scale to what we are imagining for Yarmouth. Uh but but what we saw as an important aspect was that it bordered this important public outdoor space. And so, um, having the libraryies entrance,
having places to sit, having a porch that sort of faced that public green were things that were important to us, making acknowledging the the importance, the kind of civic importance of a public library for a town. Um, the interior of
Webster was very transparent. They're they have a very small staff and so sight lines and visual control were really important as was daylight. This was a much more compact footprint than uh than some of our other projects. And
so bringing natural light into the middle of the building was very important. So we have uh a skylight that that lights a two-story atrium that program is arranged around and there are always views from one side of the building to the other, one end of the
building to the other. Um the Norwell Public Library is one of our more recent ones. This was completed during CO. Um you saw a couple of images of this a minute ago. This is a 21,000t building like Webster, but a single story. So again, close in size to what
we are um charged with designing for Yarmouth. Um this is a fully mass timber building. So 100% um renewable wood structural frame. uh which we felt really tied it to the adjacent woodlands. It is completely surrounded
by woods and wetlands. It's really a little island within this enormous wetland. Uh so there's not another building around. It's a very unique environment for a public building. Um but but that was something that we thought was a real um you know
significant aspect of the site and something we wanted to celebrate. And so coming through this sort of quiet entry courtyard from parking into low spaces and then ultimately emerging out into these larger spaces with tall ceilings,
big windows overlooking uh the adjacent woodland. On the right is the adult room. On the left is um a view of the bay window at the children's room. Um and really connecting the users to the outdoors was something that that we felt
was important to celebrate here. um all exposed wood on the interior. And then the last project I'm going to show you is um our Belmont Public Library which is in construction now. It is set to be completed this year. This is our
li to date. It is a more urban library on the main street. Um and it's a this is a 40,000t building uh that also borders a a wetland resource in the back. So there was an effort to create a
kind of wetland park in in the rear with opportunities for people to get out and engage with u with that context um but also create state-of-the-art um library spaces that are flexible on the interior. So that's that's a little bit
about us and who we are. So hopefully you have a a sense of kind of where we're coming from and some of the things that we think about as we think about libraries. Um, so now let's talk about you. The Simpkins Field uh ultimately was the was the site selected for the
library. The thing that that we realized when we got out there is after having seen plenty of photographs and aerials, this site is vast. It is so much bigger than this aerial view suggests to be out there in the middle of that field. It
you you feel very exposed. And so kind of thinking, you know, we have a 20 uh I think it's going to be ultimately 22,000 foot, no, sorry, 24,000 foot building on this site. Um, you know, it's roughly in
terms of footprint, it's roughly the size of the Simpkins uh residences down at the bottom of the image. And when you think about where do you put that in this field and what are the you know as we were saying as I was saying before we look for those things about a site that
you can kind of grab on to and say this is an asset this is something we should um we should explore or try to relate to. And and so as we looked at different options, um I I should also mention, sorry to back up, this property, the the
Simkins field property is actually made up of two different parcels, both owned by the town. Uh parcel 50, which is on the left, which is primarily the fields, and parcel 60 on the right, which is where the Bridgewater State Building is. uh the Simkin School residences at the
bottom uh down here uh is not town owned, but there is a slight overlap at that southern end of the town property where there's an easement uh where the parking for Simkins residences overlaps uh that town site. Um, lastly, the thing to thing to point out that I'm sure you
all know is there is this triangular parcel uh that's separated from the larger field by this uh little bit of wood road here. Um, and there there is a lot happening at this intersection. Um, and we'll talk about that in a minute.
Um, but the so we see because these are both town-owned, we see this entire area, the combined sites as sort of what's available to us for consideration. But there is also an access road that that basically divides it in half. not along the property line
which is here but um but effectively separates what is the potential area for consideration for a new library versus uh the rest of the site which primarily has the Bridgewater State Building. So as we looked at this area and we thought
how do we think about where a 24,000t building should go we started thinking about different things. one, you know, it's a public building. It it should have uh a relationship to Route 28 and it should have a relationship to town hall. One important civic building
facing another important civic building. Makes sense. But then it puts all of the green space behind the library, not visible from the street. Um this box here, this 24,000 ft uh building is not meant to represent a design. and it's
just this is about how big on one story this building would be on this site. So we ruled this out and said this didn't feel like it was the right the right response. Moving it back so you have some space in front of it then just creates kind of three separate green
spaces around it that didn't feel connected, didn't really seem to make sense to us and it puts starts to put the library a bit far away from Route 28 when you start to consider access. So, we ruled out this uh general location as
well. We thought about trying to anchor it to one of the the edges of the field. Um, in this case, the western edge, but felt like it was it would be uncomfortably close to the residences there. The residences there have been looking out over Simpkins Field for many
years, and I can't imagine they would be very excited about a 24,000t library plopped right in their backyards. Um, and also it just felt to us like a library there wasn't really tethered to anything in terms of access. It's not really close to Route 28. It's not close
to the access road. Um, it felt a little bit difficult to get to. So again, we felt like this wasn't quite the right place. Um, back to my earlier comment about this kind of concept of civic building facing civic building with a public green in the middle. That's a pretty
classic diagram for, you know, a sort of uh downtown, a couple important buildings with a with a public green space. Um, and so we thought, okay, well, let's let's look at this further. Um, we could create parking behind it with some buffers to uh to help mitigate
the space between the Simkin School residences and a library in this location. And so we started with a couple of layouts. And the diagrams that you're going to see are all representative of a singlestory building. Um we have the space to do it uh to do a singlestory versus a
two-story building. There are efficiencies to a singlestory library versus a two-story library. Uh particularly particularly in terms of staffing. It's easier for staff to supervise a one-story building than a two-story building. Programmatically, it
makes sense because you're always asking yourself, who are we going to put on the second floor and make use the stairs and elevator to get up there? And that then that brings with it a whole other set of questions. Um, and then you're also obligating yourself to an elevator, stairs, extra restrooms, all of the
things that go with accommodating program on two floors. So, these diagrams all look at a singlestory building. Um, in this case, we've arranged the building in wings that are roughly 50 feet in in width. So, they're
kind of long and thin effectively. Um, and there are two reasons for that. One is 50 ft is a good dimension structurally. We can span clear 50 ft and not have columns in the middle, which makes for more flexible space when you're laying out shelving and
furniture. And you know, who knows, in 50 years, our library is going to change and you might want to reconfigure things. So, a column free um wing of the building makes sense. But also, I think as importantly, um in a 50-ft uh
dimension, you can get natural light and views on both sides. So, you're never far away, even if you're in the middle of that space, you're never more than, you know, 25 ft away from windows and natural light. And we think that's really important in libraries in particular. Um, and so all of these, and
this is, you know, at a kind of diagrammatic level, that's where we're starting. Things may push and pull as we get into the design, but that's why you'll you'll notice that all of these have these kind of attenuated um, wings of program. Um, I know you probably can't read the text on that screen, so
I'll just tell you quickly. Yellow is adults. Uh, light blue is um, children. The kind of medium blue is lobby and the red is community. The smaller spaces green is teens and the darker blue is
staff. And that'll be true in all these diagrams. I'll point it out in all of them as we go through. Um but this arranged then the the library in a kind of spoked uh arrangement with a central lobby here accessible both from a
potential drop off on the access road and from parking. So you can get into the building from either side. Uh the community program in this diagram is easily accessed from parking. Um one of the it's not I don't know if it's an
actual requirement but it is a strong preference of the MBLC and it makes sense and we do this in all of our projects that the community program spaces and that's usually not just one room. It's the large community meeting room, but it often can also be a conference room, bathrooms associated
with that space, lobby space, a small kitchen, storage. So, it's a whole suite of rooms that are great a great resource for a town. And so um we designed these libraries so that the library program, all the collections, the staff offices
can be closed and the community spaces can be open outside of library hours with public access. And that that is great for towns who are short on meeting space. Um and so we we always think about, you know, how do you get into the building and where's where are those
community rooms? They need to be close to the to the lobby. there needs to be a clear way to separate that from the rest of the building in terms of uh building security. And so again, this kind of spoked arrangement allows us to do that with still a centrally um located lobby
that serves community that's accessible from both sides um and then a a line of security that closes off the two library wings. Um so the the arrangement of this seemed reasonable to us. the the fact that it
kind of fronts green space in between town hall all seemed good but it felt very far from us to Route 28. Um you know as architects and urban designers we think a lot about you know what is
the the sort of responsible to do thing to do from an urban planning standpoint. How do you make sites more walkable? How do you encourage people to walk there? And there's no sidewalk on the south side of Route 28, but there is on the other side. And people go to town hall for things and may see some advantage to
being a town hall and then wanting to jump across the street to the library. And so I think it's important for a project like this in in this area and this, you know, bit by bit you do this around Yarmouth, you improve that walkability, you improve those connections, those pedestrian
connections, so you don't have to get in your car from town hall and drive to the library. So strengthening that connection I think is really important and you'll see that in all the proposals. Um the potential for a crosswalk here which would really help given how much traffic happens. You know
there are number of roads coming into 28 at that location and then figuring out a way to facilitate access from town hall all the way down to the lobby of the building. So in this location, the library feels a little bit far away, frankly, for for us um from the road. Uh
we looked at another arrangement then that was was similar. It's set at that back edge. Uh it has parking behind it, a landscape buffer so that there's uh there's some layering happening between the Simkins residences and the library.
And it's pushing the library actually even a little further, but it's still a bit far we think from Route 28. Um, in this case, the arrangement was around a central courtyard reading garden that that kind of is a smaller, more intimate
space that's adjacent to the town common that maybe has a slightly different treatment. But again, trying to create outdoor usable outdoor program space for the library. Again, yellow is adults. Uh, this medium blue here is the lobby.
So, there's access both from parking and from drop off. This location at the corner is very clear. It's visible. It's accessible. Uh the community wing in this case is is uh facing the common and we actually think that's advantageous.
You could, you know, you can see it from the common. You can potentially see it from Route 28. You have access from that room out to both the reading garden, but also the larger uh landscaped town common space. Uh can I ask a question? Yeah.
Um, we Yes, we can. I'm just curious because Okay. And I just wanted everybody else to know that this gentleman is taking questions. Sorry, I don't think everyone can hear you. Um, would you like to go to the
podium? When you have a question, I need to bring the mic to you just so that we can hear you on the recording later. Sure. I'm in uh wonder of what's going to happen. Excuse me. Could you identify yourself too please? Of course. My name is David Boselo and I
am a Simpkins school residents resident and uh a few of us actually a lot of us have a lot of questions about what's going to happen with the property um the parking so on and so forth. So, I figured whatever I learn here today, I
can take back to them and share with the residents. Um, my first question would be, so your company is not sure where you're putting the building at this time. That's right. Okay, that's one good thing to There's still a couple more proposals
coming and and that they're from different companies. I'm taking no today. We're we're looking at five different options for the name of the company is O Odin's L Odin. I've heard of that. Do you have any plans on with the uh
T-ball with the back stop and what you may be doing with that or if anything at all? No, we don't. There is a a T-ball and a such uh it's kind of a um a baby of the little league
field which is across the way. Um they te-ball, you know, te-ball is about the size of a baseball bat. And the children um for many many years have come up through that T-ball
spot to further on to Little League. And I would suggest a spot over by the Bridgewater State Building. There's more coming attractions. Yeah, if you sit tight, we're gonna we're going to talk about three more and then
then I I know where your question is heading. So, let's talk about the other options and then if you still have a question about it, we're happy to talk about it then. Okay. So, so this you know the the pieces are the same and this diagram is the last diagram. Adults are yellow,
children are light blue, teens are green, community is here, lobby is here. So organizing things around sort of shaping this kind of central reading garden space but again to us it feels a little bit far away from the road although it's easily accessible from the
access road. And so we started thinking you know we we don't know what the future of the town common is. There is a town common uh steering committee I think that was formed yet it's an idea now but but we know that that's something
that is being considered here and and we think that's great and we think it's a a tremendous asset to a library in this location um and the and its relationship to town hall. We think all of that is great, but we started thinking, you
know, the two proposals you just saw are kind of taking up space in a a very deep, quite generous outdoor open space. And so, and and the area that as the gentleman just pointed out in front of the Bridgewater State Building is a
little bit less defined. I think the act between the access road, the stand of trees up in the north uh east corner uh which we'll talk more about um and just the sort of general configuration whereas there is a very clear and kind of rational
um green here that I think could be reinforced by the removal of that section of Wood Road. There is a wood uh I'm sorry, a road that connects Wood Road here to 28. um eliminating that section. And this is not our idea, by the way. This came out of a study that
was done by another group for potential town common. So, we cherrypicked that idea from that study. We thought it was a very good one. Um what it does is it gives the the common frontage on 28 that with that road there, it doesn't have.
And yes, there are trees there, but those trees would be part of a larger town common. And we think that that reinforces the sort of public nature of that green space. We think that actually is a really important move. It doesn't mean that it can't work with the road
there. It doesn't mean that it would be a terrible public common, but we think it could be made stronger if you did that. So that gives us this very, you know, clear, rational town common. and the yellow area that we're sort of labeling library buildable area. We were
thinking, well, what is it about that area that's compelling? And there are two things that we see. One, you have that long seam between the town common and the library buildable area that we're calling it. That frontage on the town we think is really important like
the library in Webster that I mentioned that that relationship of important public building to important public green space that it's the edges where a lot of activity happens and the the edges of a space help that space feel
activated. Um, when when I was touring that space for the first time with our landscape architect, it was not a particularly hot day, but we found ourselves kind of hugging the edges of that field. We were we were hanging out, you know, by the the grove of trees that's in that upper northeast corner
because there was some shade and there was some scale and we didn't feel so exposed. Um, and so those are the things that we see as kind of tangible assets on this particular site. So those two things that edge which we think is really important and that stand of trees
which provides shade provides a kind of natural beauty provides a sound buffer from Route 28 which is pretty heavily trafficked. We see as potential advantages of this area. We also think the town common could benefit from a
little bit more treatment of its edges. Some shade trees along the western edge. You know, right now that property line is a fence with Ivy on it and then the backyards. There's not a lot separating the residences from this big public space. So, having, I think, a a more
delineated vegetated edge. Um, these trees are the existing trees that are on either side of that that bit of wood road that I mentioned. But those trees could operate in a town common. You think about the Boston common, there are trees all over it, and you still have
the general sense of openness. Um, and we also, like in the previous two schemes, think that it's important to create a buffer at the southern edge, both for the town common and for the Simpkins school residences. Um, there is
no relief back here in that parking lot behind the residences there. It's just parking lot and field. There's no shade. And and so I think having e even if it's just some trees um understanding that there needs to be
access to outdoor recreation that that as the gentleman who just spoke a few minutes ago mentioned that will have to be part of what's considered in the town common. We are not the designers of the town common, but we we want to think a little bit ahead about what could happen
there and set it up for success as much as we can with our project so we're not getting in the way of the town common. So we started looking at schemes then in that area and we wanted to as you saw in the the second scheme I showed where we were starting to create outdoor usable
space. We thought why not use that existing stand of trees as a way as one edge of a more intimate um space that is outside that is just for the library. And so this scheme sort of does it
celebrates both of those conditions that I was talking about. It presents a long frontage of the library along town common. It's close to the road. Um it puts community close to the road. So easily accessible,
walkable uh from Route 28, from town hall uh to get to community space. It um it you know so this whole frontage I think is a very kind of public face of the library. We then creating outdoor
porch space which even when the library is closed and there's a there's an event happening on town common. Those kinds of uh attributes to the library could be a benefit to any kind of activity on on the town common. And then by virtue of
this wing of the building, we're creating this L condition which combined with the trees starts to shape an outdoor space which you can imagine would be lovely to be in. It's a nice scale. It's quiet. It has, you know, this sort of beautiful natural landscape
forming one edge of it and then the building forming two edges. It's accessible from the program inside. So, the community room, you can imagine, could have access both to a kind of intimate um outdoor space and then a much larger program space. So, it builds
in a kind of flexibility of of use. Um, in terms of library function, again, like the one of the earlier schemes, that first one I showed you, it's a kind of pin wheel arrangement or a sort of spoked arrangement of of wings where you have a central lobby in this case
accessible from parking here uh that then has easy access and supervision of adults uh which is facing town common, children which is uh looking out towards this green space and the grove of trees and the community wing with teens and
staff also close to the entry. Um, so this to us felt like a good option. It was closer to the street. It felt more responsible in terms of connecting the library to uh the the sort of connective tissue of the town, the route 28, uh,
etc. The next option is very similar and all three of these are are in a kind of similar vein relative to to the town common. again shaping outdoor space um putting program around, you know, around this space so that there's easy access
to it, but also still creating um good public frontage on the town common. In this case, we've created a corner porch here, so the entry is actually visible across the common. It's accessible from the parking. Uh it could be accessible
potentially, you know, from a crosswalk and a path that gets you to that same arrival point. Uh the community wing is easily accessible off hours um and convenient to parking. Still has access to this central garden space off hours
with the children and adult wings closed. And then lastly, we we wanted to look at one that that had a slightly different approach to the community room, and that was making the community room feel like
a participant in the town common. So we've we've sort of pushed the instead of maintaining the this um this edge, we've kind of violated that edge with a community room and poked it out into the town common. So it's it's a a little bit of an object in, you know, a sort of
pavilion in this larger context. Now, this is so big that I don't think that this would be a limiting factor in terms of how this is set up for the seaside festival or some of your big events. Um but again it makes it because it is a a kind of town amenity and it's library
program but it's also an asset to the town making it visible making it accessible you know you drive by you see that there's something happening at night we think that's important in a town that kind of creating that uh that sort of uh connectivity. Um and so uh
you know again the library is centrally located and the various wings kind of radiating out from that. Um so that's that's where we are and this is I want to put this into the context of a larger overall schedule. So
we are in this first blue box on the left. This is the feasibility study or planning study that we're doing for the MBLC. It's a six-month study um that ends in December. As Judy said, at the end of December, we submit our package
with all of the grant requirements to the MBLC. They then take a couple of months, we don't know exactly how long, to review that material, make sure that it complies with all of their regulations. During that time, there's likely some
back and forth between us, the LBC, and the MBLC, um, with, you know, things that they might want to tweak a little bit before they say, "Okay, yes, this is good, and this this, you know, accommodates your program and it meets all of our requirements." Um, and and and then at
that point, you go to town meeting, take a vote that says everybody's in favor of this project moving forward and accepting the grant money from the state. at which point the hard work really begins and that is the the remaining uh bar in this bar chart the
blue 12 month that's the design period so there's 12 months of architectural design and consultant engineering design that takes that study that we finish at the end of December and turns that into a design that has many opportunities to
be vetted with the community like this um and ultimately produces a set of documents that we can bid which happens that generally is about a two-month uh period and then we start construction. So from the time that you know you you vote yes at town meeting
assuming we start the next day it's then a year until that project gets bid and construction starts. Construction typically is 18 monthsish and we that's something we'll have to talk about but um that's a that's a reasonable amount of time. So you're looking at about a
32month period of time from the time that you approve the project to the time that the doors open and you move in. These are long processes. They're complicated. There a lot of moving parts. But the message I think that I really wanted to deliver is we are at
the very beginning. We are asking for feedback from you. that feedback will help us as we think and as a group sort of deliberate and make decisions and and um there will be other opportunities along the way. We we are planning at
least one other meeting I believe during this six-month period. Um but even beyond you know once we're into the actual building design there will be other opportunities for public input. So don't feel like this is the last chance that you have to ask questions about
this project. Um so with that we are happy to take questions. Okay thank you Matt. We also have a number of people online. Uh so those of you who are present if there are people who would like to ask questions now that you've seen the full
presentation um could you just approach the podium please tell us who you are and proceed. Okay. Good afternoon, Judy Wilchinsky. Um, you've spoken of the community room. I
was a few minutes late. What size are we looking at for like 50 people? 100, 500, a thousand? I mean, just to picture how big that may be. Great. That's my first question. Okay. I have two representatives from our office, Marie Coobel and Libby Coutur,
and I'm going to pass that question over to them. Yeah. Yes. Ma uh I think that second share mine with you if you want.
Okay. Um so the um large auditorium style um meeting room will have 130 seats um in an auditorium style. It would be less if it was tables and chairs. And then there's also a conference room that can seat 30 auditorium style.
So when you're saying or will there be permanent seats 130? It will be it will be movable. flexible um so that all the spaces can be reconfigured. Just thinking of all those little kids running around or adults in there and trying to maneuver meant for you know stacking chairs and probably stackable tables as well.
Thank you. And my second question is has the committee reached out to any of the newer libraries on the Cape to see you know what they planned for and what they maybe wish they had added in or didn't add in. And looking forward because the Cape is changing so much and our
population is changing. I know the children's just because I have grandkids in the in the town, the children's room has changed so much from eight years ago when we moved in. So, I would hate for us to plan for something but not talk to other people that have already been
experienced in and where where their programs are going. Thank you. Uh thank you. Uh thank you for that question. Yes, a number of us individually have been reaching out and that information is going to come into this phase now. Um and we'll get a
little more regimented I guess in terms of contacting other libraries in the um area. But we you know a lot of us because we're library lovers are very familiar with the other libraries as it is. But you make a good point as far as programming,
right? And being familiar is great. I mean I've been out to East Ham. I've been to a ton of libraries on the cake, but actually seeing what they in this phase or in the next phase, what they planned for and then what actually reality was because we're talking three years out.
So, you know what, three years or five years and what would they have maybe done differently. Thank you. Great. Thank you. I I realize thanks to your question that I neglected to talk about programming. So, I just let me tell you very quickly where things stand with the program. There was a consultant that was hired by
the town to do a library building program last year, I believe, ending 24. Yeah. Uh in 2024. And so that that was a document that we were given when we started work. Um I think it the document called for a 26,000t building. We have been working
and I say we, but I really mean Ma and Libby here from our office. Ma is our project manager. Uh Libby is our project designer. Um and Libby and the staff uh and LBC have been working together with the MBLC to go through that program and
confirm some of the assumptions that were made. There were some things that that seemed not quite right in the uh calculations. And so we have spent some time trying to rightsize things and make sure that the MBLC is comfortable. And so we've actually seen some efficiencies
and we've reduced that program down to 24,000 ft from 26. So, it's tightened up a bit. Um, but that program, which was developed by another firm, tells us all of those particulars. How many seats, what types of uh furniture, you know,
how many staff, how many computers. Um, and so that's the that's kind of our road map. But I think as your question suggests, these are living documents. And as we move through designs, things change, priorities might change. It's a year of design, you know, attitudes
might change. And the MBLC is pretty good about staying nimble with us as we work through those things. Um, so it's possible, you know, even if we said today we want to do it this way in 6 months if for there's a very good reason why we want to think about it another
way, they're open to those conversations. So, if you'd like to read that, it's on the library website and uh it's the firm is called constructive destruction creative disruption, I think. CD
CD. Thank you. So, you can read that study, although as Matt said, we've already tweaked it out. Other questions? Hi, I'm a I'm a frequent library patient patron
and I Could you identify yourself please? Anthony Lopes. Hi Anthony. Hi. Um what is the projected environmental advantage to having one building versus two like water savings, electricity, etc.
What when you say two buildings, what do you mean? Currently there's two library buildings, right? West Yarmouth and South Yarmouth. So presumably concentrating that into one location would reduce certain utility usages, right? Is there any study on that or
Well, I as far as I know there has not been a study about that, but I I can say that you know those buildings which as I understand it grew over time. and they started small and they were added on to and added on to and added on to. Um, they're of a vintage where the
construction quality is probably not well, we know that it it wouldn't be up to today's standards. It probably wouldn't meet code today in terms of energy code. Um, you know, Massachusetts actually is is pretty um conservative
when it comes to energy use and the the required energy codes. So buildings, you know, they really emphasize high performance in buildings. So a new building is going to perform much better than those buildings do. Um they even if it's a bigger building, it could still
reduce energy consumption and operating cost because it's a better envelope. And so it reduces dependence on heating and cooling. It'll have better windows. You know, even in the last 20 years, window technology has changed and window performance is so much better than it
used to be. So, I think all of those things will make for in a new building a much more efficient uh tight building. Um, and so the as far as I know, there hasn't been a study done, but I can quite confidently say that a new building will perform better than either
of the existing library buildings will. Makes sense to me. Uh, I have one more question if that's okay. Sure. Um, what community outreach programs are suggested for the opening of the building and the the running of it? is it's a good opportunity I think for a a marketing program more or less saying we
can open a book club with this there's a new library opening we can have some more you know public reading sort of thing is there anything like that planned are are you saying in the leadup or are you saying basically as part of the grand opening take it as an entire program like library opening we're opening a book
club that sort of thing Judy want us to be part of the cell okay as as somebody who does a lot of programming at the library Um, if you know me, there will be some kind of party. Um, this summer we did, um, in youth
services alone, we did 99 programs um, in the last eight weeks. So, there is always something going on at the library and the growth of these programs shows the need for more space. And of course, if if it is if it moves forward
as the community decides, it will be an opportunity for us to highlight the space, use it, and of course, there'll be a grand opening. Love to hear it. Thank you. Thank you, Anthony. Anyone else? Hi, I'm Alice Bowen and for the last
eight years I've taught in the old lives, the nice old South Yarmouth Library twice a week. And here's what I have to say. We have no windows downstairs in the community room. We have no windows in the children's room. My living room is bigger than the
children's library. And I have people that are various ages from in their 20s to in their 80s and we have to go to the bathroom upstairs. Now we have an
elevator and some of them are afraid to get in it. So they have to climb up the stairs and down the stairs. This is such a vast improvement. I can't tell you. I can I just hope that some of us live long enough for the 30 months that it
takes to construct it cuz I'm on the other end. I'm not on the 20 end. So I can't tell you how much I can't wait to see this built. So I applaud you.
Windows. windows. Gentlemen, ladies, uh, my name is David Barcelo and I reside at 134 Old Main Street, South Yamouth, Massachusetts, which happens to
be the Simp Residences address, and I am a resident there. Um, so we do have a library uh and it happens
to be very close by. Uh, it's down here uh towards the um end of um Old Main Street, which is just beyond the culture club. There's a library there. I'm wondering
what's going to happen with this library once this project starts. Okay. So, our uh charge, if you will, is to look at the needs of the community. I'm sorry, my voice is just not cooperating.
and to um move forward with this project. Um that will remain property of the town during this whole construction period, but uh the future uses of the library as
a building, the South Armouth Library, that decision will be made by the select board um probably in conjunction with the planning group, the planning committee, the planning department. Uh but we we don't have anything to say about that.
And the committee does the committee is the the deciding we our charge is just to uh determine what library could meet the needs of our full community. We've chosen a site. Now we're working into the location um
conceptually and then we'll move into further design. But as far as reuse of town property, we don't have any um any role in that. Okay. Um I was wondering if there was any uh
other places, buildings um that could be expanded upon. Any other buildings? Yes. Okay. Yeah, we're past those phases right now. Um
the bear with me. Um sure. I happen to have a traumatic brain injury and it's difficult to speak especially in public at times. Uh so um
the everything from what I seen up on the board um my best what I think would be the best would be uh closest to the uh Bridgewater State building.
Um that corner with the trees uh you had mentioned that would make a nice buffer for uh sound between um the public and um the people behind it.
May may I let you know that that buffer is is not going to stop the music from uh Route 28. And when I say music, I mean the cars, the trucks, the
loud motorcycles, the hot rods, and everything else that seems to make its back way to the Simkin school building residences just as loud as it is out on Route 28. because we all know how sound
travels and it has a a a real large area to travel in and get louder and louder and louder as it travels. Um I I've got nothing more to say. Um
I'm a bit nervous. I'm going to practice this uh and I'll be back and I'll I'll practice this in front of a mirror. David. David. Thank you. You're welcome. Is there anyone else in the room?
Okay. Okay. I'm Patricia Short Holmes. I live over where David lives in the same building on 134 Old Main Street. And that parking area in the back is used for the little league. Is the little league in
knowledge of knows about this? And they fill that up totally that whole space. Are you talking about the the parking that is associated with Simpkins that's close to you? It's Well, it's Yes. The one that's closest to us
and it fills up really thick and heavy for the little league which is not in that field. It's not not even shown on that. You can see just barely in the corner, right? But it's not on the map. But that red area that is really I hope the little league would be knowledgeable because they have big
playoffs and hot dogs and hamburgers and Mhm. big thing. Uh so I'm sorry, was there a question there? Because we know the little leaf field is down there. We don't we won't impinge on that. There's no parking and we won't impinge on the existing
parking. there's no parking and for there they just want to make sure that they can get through that area like and um make the barrier you know you can even cut the bushes in the front part because I don't know we don't really need them there but we do need the ones in the
back. Yes. So stay tuned with the traffic patterns and um that is to be determined depending on where the location is and then how that traffic will flow. Yeah, we I mentioned before we we are not
designers of the town common. Of course, we're designers, so we can't help ourselves. So, we do think about things even if it's kind of beyond and and I just want to point out that, you know, we when we were walking the site, we and I think I said this, we felt like the Simkins residence building
could use some buffering. It could use some buffering from noise, from heat, from just the the kind of openness that there's there's really nothing between the building and the road except the parking lot, the field, and then the trees that are all the way at the at
128. And so building in a landscape buffer at a minimum, we think makes sense. It makes sense both for Town Common and we think it makes sense for that building. We even think and we're showing it in all these schemes that that parking here and whether that's paved parking and that's that's beyond
the existing parking whether that's paved parking or it's reinforced turf that's overflow parking for special events. We think that could happen with another row of trees more buffering and and create uh a little more capacity for the kinds of things that you're talking about.
The little league does park there and I don't know what they'll do if it they lose anything there. Okay, thank you. Hi. Hi, Kathy Rambo. I live in Captain's Village. I made the mistake of reading some comments online, so I kind of went
down the rabbit hole. I'm sure you guys have cleared this up, but are there deed restrictions on Simkins Field that's floating around out there? I know it's floating around. Um right now we have looked at um the easements and
we have some clear direction on that from 2012 when Simpkins residences were um being designed. Uh furthermore, this has been referred to the legal uh department here. So town council will be
reviewing that. Um, we as a committee have been re reassured by our town administrator that he he does not foresee any difficulties with this and there is a lot of folklore out there and
a lot of remembrances that become repeated. Um, so I really thank you for that question because as of now we know of no actual basis in those rumors. That's good. And I was pretty sure you guys had looked into that, but like I
said, it's out there. It regenerates itself into god knows what next week. Yeah. And my other question is, I know you don't have control over it, but I know the town I think leased the old school to Bridgewwater for like a hundred years or 99 years or something. Is
Bridgewwater still in there? A great question. And so Bridgewwater has a contract with the town, but they have sublet it to the Cape Cod collaborative. So it is being actively used for children who attend programs
with the Cape Cod collaborative. So Bridgewwater came in and then COVID happened and they went more remote. Okay, that's what I thought. Thank you. Sure. Thank you. Thank you for your questions. Yes, please. This is the last thing actually. I love
the ideas. I'm all fine with it. I have one concern and I would like to make sure that when this plan goes forward that there is a good plan in um on the
paper for the connection between the library and town hall or whatever is on the other side. You see, if we are talking about people crossing the street, I would like for security reasons, I would love to have that
highlighted. Also, I have already contacted the town engineer about that. Well, thank you. I mean, I missed something potential need there for crosswalks and crossing. Um it is a state route so there it's not something
we can just decide here but I have alerted her today. Hi my name is David. I just had a thought. It just popped into my head. The Bridgewater State
College I was under the impression is the owner of the property green the green property the field. Um no okay that's that'll help me to go forward. Yeah they are a tenant the town owns it.
I uh had a thought saving the town money perhaps. Maybe it might be a good idea or it might be a bad idea for the town. I don't know.
I've noticed the uh people that come and go for the collaborative uh children's school and I've never seen more than 12 to 20 people children come
in and out of that building and much less at other times. And I'm guessing that that is a lot of wasted space for that amount of people. Um
um I I have not been over there and while the programming was active except to be outside the building. Um but again, the Cape Cod Collaborative is renting
from Bridgewater. But I'm going to defer this question to Mindy who has been in the building. Hi Mindy. Hi. Um, so our former director and I had the opportunity to visit this working high school last year. There is more than 18 kids in there. There's a full
staff of teachers, um, administration, secretaries running. This is a small school, but I want to say there was at least 40ome students there when we visited. And they do have class there all day, a normal school day, 8 to
three, nine, n 9 to4, whatever hours that school works on that is full all year round. So, okay. So, um my question would have been why not take the children and find a new building for
them and build on what is over there now for the library. it would have been sort of a swap and of course remember I started out uh
thinking saving money for the town. Mhm. So um so when we talk about efficiencies uh sometimes it is less efficient to remake a building. So that building um as far as the square footage, I think it
might be comparable to what we're looking for. But as Matt referred to earlier, a twostory library is difficult. You also end up uh maintaining things like stairs instead of actual program space and uh
communication in that kind of a building is more difficult. I have been in that building not with kids and it's classrooms and that also doesn't necessarily lend itself to uh collections and then you have uh room
dividers that start to determine what your space usage will be by those existing walls because they're um loadbearing walls. But thank you. And we're definitely going to be keeping uh cost efficiencies in mind as we move forward.
Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you again. All right. Anyone else? Okay. Okay. We don't see any questions from the online participants. So, what we're going to do is close this more formal aspect. And uh we do have the boards
around that are showing exactly these layouts. There are two in here on easels. There's one in the hallway. We have comment cards. Please return them to that little blue box over there. Any kind of comments are welcome and we will
review them. Um but we will scatter ourselves around so that um you can chat with us and ask any other questions, maybe some detail questions that are just occurring to you now. Um, anything else that I'm missing? That's good.
Okay. Oh, and be sure to sign the signing sheet. So, we're going to close our session now. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. They're actually required by Hi. I know you.
Yeah. long time no library. [Music] We're not going to build it. We're going to design it and then a a contractor will be hired to build it. Is there any um ideas for uh
type