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Dryden property to be used for new East Forest Park library

Date: 11/19/2015

SPRINGFIELD – The Springfield School Committee authorized the use of some of the property at the Mary A. Dryden Veterans Memorial School for a new library in East Forest Park.

The unanimous approval was at the committee’s meeting on Nov. 12. Mayor Domenic Sarno said, “It makes perfect sense to be at Dryden” and added a new library “would be another valuable asset to that neighborhood.”

The current branch at the Rite Aid Plaza, Library Director Molly Fogarty explained to Reminder Publications, is the second busiest library in the city but is among the smallest with only 4,000 square feet. The branch has no community room, no area for programming and only four public computers.

Fogarty said with site selection determined the next step would be starting the work on the actual design of the facility.

She explained the library had received a $50,000 planning and development grant in June 2014. The city added $29,000 to that sum.

Working with J. Stuart Roberts Associates, the first step was to determining a site. With suggestions from residents and the East Forest Park Civic Association, the number of potential sites was reduced to five with the Dryden School deemed the most appropriate.

She said a preliminary design would be next. She knows library staff and the public would like to see an area designated for teens and another one for children, as well as a lobby with a café area. She said a community room that could be used by people outside of the branch’s hours is also on the wish list.

A digital media lab and an area with 25 computers is also on the list.

With a preliminary plan in place the library would then seek an independent cost estimate to determine how expensive the library would be to build.

Fogarty said the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners will have a construction grant round in 2017 and all of the work in selection and designs would be used for that application.

Fogarty said the new library has received “lots of support.”