The following article appeared in the July 17 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
City of Guelph staff have been assigned the task of identifying which of two possible sites would make the best home for a new main Guelph Library.
After an exhaustive process, the library site search committee chose three locations from a list of 14 possible locations. A new building on the Baker Street parking lot was the committee’s preferred option, but the site of the Co-operators Day Care on Macdonell Street was also seen as viable.
Council voted last night in favour of a motion to direct staff to take the new library project a step further — to develop conceptual development scenarios, business cases and full economic cost-benefit analysis of the two preferred sites. Council has directed staff to consider mixed use design and development for both sites, to find ways to integrate the library into possible commercial and residential projects.
Ward 2 Councillor Ian Findlay said wedding the new library to new commercial and residential projects could have a huge impact on the downtown.
Ward 4 Coun. Gloria Kovach was the only councillor to vote against the motion to hasten the process. She said two studies had already been paid for to look into possible locations, and she questioned whether it was necessary to burden an already “stretched” staff, or timely to engage in the process, given numerous other priorities.
“We can’t even afford to cut our sports fields in an adequate way,” Kovach said, in arguing against burdening staff with another project. “I don’t believe (building a new library) is something we can afford at this time.”