03/23/2008
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Morning Sentinel staff photofrom the Kennebec Journal
SENATE DISTRICT 24: Mitchell vs. Davis
Senate District 23: Weston vs. Messer
Monitoring usage, checking temperature of heaters can make a big difference
Elementary students meet the challenge and show their reading prowess
Dealer responds in lemon law case
Plenty of space for prayer
SENATE 24: Former lawmaker challenging Mitchell
Festival draws a crowd
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
SENATE DISTRICT 24: Mitchell vs. Davis
Senate District 18: Gooley vs. Woloson
AUTO DEALER RESPONDS: Dealership involved in lemon law dispute
STARKS: Police make drug arrests
Simple steps can save on hot water
Clinton due to resolve cops' funds
CROSS COUNTRY NOTEBOOK: Cougars thrive at Festival
Ellsbury stepping up for Sox
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
That's because the town's library has been wedged into a space so small that many of the books must be stored in an outbuilding. And it's not just the books that are jammed together.
"It's not so much that the library needs the space," Haigh said, picking her way along an icy path flanked by snowbanks over a foot deep on either side. "It's the people who use the library who need it."
Quarters are so tight in the 400-square-foot space that Haigh fears that young adults may not be using the facility as much as they might -- perhaps deterred by the fact that they are forced to share space with the children's section.
Belgrade Public Library is one of several town facilities that may eventually make its home under a single roof in a structure that could be as large as 17,700 square feet. Voters approved a town request to pay an architect $20,000 to investigate the matter and produce a plan on how best to house Belgrade's library, food pantry, cultural center and municipal operations.
Belgrade is a town of about 4,000 year-round residents that serves as a bedroom community for Waterville and Augusta, according to the town's Web site. The attraction of the community's picturesque network of lakes, islands and rolling wooded hills helps to double the town's population in the summer. Readers who do use the library often check out their books and immediately leave because there is limited space for them to browse or read, Haigh said. Library trustees and a group known as the Friends of the Library have pushed for a larger facility, and, now that momentum is increasing for a large, multi-use structure, they are lobbying for an energy-efficient, environment-friendly construction project. They are also mounting a private fundraising effort to pay for it.
Town planners estimate that costs of construction would range from $2.9 million and $3.54 million. They are looking for a 10- to 20-acre plot of land, preferably in a central location, that would cost between $45,000 and $80,000.
According to their estimates, the municipal offices would occupy 5,735 square feet and a common area would take up an additional 4,080 square feet. The food pantry would require 1,000 square feet; the library, 5,487; and the cultural center, 1,400.
Nancy Mairs, who lives in North Belgrade and has served as the town historian for the past 10 years, stores town records and historical artifacts in her home and stacks of photos in her cellar for lack of a better place.
"I consider these to be the property of the town," Mairs said. "The next step, I think, will be climate-controlled storage. There is no place in town where old things and records can be stored securely."
At the town office, Town Manager Dennis Keschl took a visitor on a tour of the decrepit structure. The town in 1969 purchased the building, which had been a diner. From the looks of a faded photograph hanging in the lobby, not a lot has been done to improve the structure in the past 40 years.
Floors and ceilings sag. Insufficient ventilation has raised carbon dioxide to excessively high levels. Bats at one point took up residence in the building's roof. Filing cabinets full of vital town records lean against one another, packed into every spare closet and room. Town employees have limited or no space to take their breaks, and offices are severely cramped.
"I do general assistance in here," Keschl said with a sweeping gesture at the tiny desk and towering shelves of books that dominate his office, which is about the width of a walk-in closet. Turning to the flimsy, hollow-core door, he said, "I could push my fingers right through this. I have a hard time maintaining confidentiality."
Downstairs, Keschl pointed to rows of crowded shelves that hold canned goods distributed by the food pantry. Door frames in the basement are so low that Keschl has to duck to go through them.
Bathrooms are not wheelchair accessible, and neither are the stairs, which food pantry customers must negotiate. "I think everyone recognizes that there is a need here," Keschl said. "The real question is, 'What's the best way to do it?'"
Joel Elliott -- 861-9252
jelliott@centralmaine.com
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