Council Picks Town Core Site for Library
Posted by John Malloy on 08/12/2009
By Don Crosby -
Meaford council plans to build a 12,000-square-foot single storey building for a new library on municipally owned property on Market Square in downtown Meaford.
Not all councillors favour putting the library on the property in the parking lot behind Meaford Hall, however, Coun. Gerald Shortt voted against the proposal. He said it would substantially reduce the number of parking spaces in the only public parking in downtown Meaford.
“I think you’re cutting down the parking for Meaford Hall,” said Shortt, who suggested looking at other sites.
Michael Richardson, vice-chairman of the library board, said other publicly owned sites such as McCarroll Park, land on Meaford Harbour and a space adjacent to the arena were rejected because they weren’t close enough to downtown.
“The downtown development plan for Meaford does accommodate both the harbour and the arena, but a lot of people don’t regard those as part of downtown. Downtown in Meaford is the two commercial blocks from Collingwood St. through to Trowbridge St. That was one of the things that tipped the balance in looking at Market Square as the site,” he said after a vote by council at Monday’s committee of the whole meeting.
Council turned down a proposal by Meaford planner Liz Buckton, who recommended a two-storey building that would incorporate municipal administrative offices now next door to the library. That plan would include underground parking for users of the library, administration offices, Meaford Hall and a local business.
“It’s unfortunate to bring these two together. I’m cautious about putting them together. I think we’re going a little too fast with all this. Let’s stay focused on the library site location,” said Deputy-mayor Mike Traynor, who is also concerned about the amount of parking spaces that would be needed…
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