Don’t be fooled. The plan to expand the existing Rockport Public Library is a false choice.

The expansion plan is presented as if it were an alternative to yes votes on Articles 8 and 9. It is not. What we are seeing is a photo-shopped rendering of the library, not a design, and a sketch of a floor plan, plus a narrative about the layout. There is so much information that is missing

The “Keep, Expand, Improve” plan needs a lot more scrutiny. Where is the money? Even if these Friends of Rockport had the money the cost estimated by their spokesperson is low by almost any standard. He says it will cost about $500,000. For 2600 square feet of construction that would equal $192 per square foot. The American Library Association states that the normal cost to build library space is $300 per square foot. At that rate the cost would be more like $780,000. Also that estimate makes no allowance for blasting the ledge under the ground where they want to build. We need some proof that the $500,000 estimate has some basis in reality.

What about an assessment of the present condition of the building by a professional before we start adding onto it? It already has been enlarged four times.

Does that remind you of the old RES? We spent nearly $1 million on that building and now all we have to show for it is the concrete slabs. 

Did the Friends of Rockport of Rockport bother to ask the library staff what they wanted? I’ll bet the staff would not be thrilled with the idea of locating their offices on the second floor, removed from library patrons. Do they realize that on projects costing more than $100,000 the ADA requires that any second floor must be accessible by elevator? Elevators take up space and cost money.

Voting yes on Articles 8 and 9 is not a vote for a plan; it is a vote for a process. The plan comes later after a thorough discussion with the library staff and library professionals about the needs of a modern library now and in the future. We should expect that our new library would serve us well into the latter part of this century. Then we appoint a building committee and they employ an architect charging him to give us several designs and cost estimates for our consideration.

The choice of a design would be followed by the development of a funding strategy, one that would include a bond issue together with raising private funds. Then we get to work.

Voting yes on Articles 8 and 9 enables the Town of Rockport to take a deliberative, democratic approach to creating a library that serves the whole community now and for the long-term future. Short-term fixes just never work.

Dave Jackson lives in Rockport