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| 6/24/2010 1:50:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| A rendering looking northwest shows a proposed new Blair Public Library in the foreground with the existing Blair Family YMCA in the upper left. A proposed conference center is shown behind the library, upper right. |
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| A rendering looking southwest shows the proposed conference center opening onto a terrace with a wedding gazebo that would overlook a botancial garden with walking paths. The existing YMCA building is shown at the top with the proposed library at the upper left. |
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Y makes pitch for new Blair Library on its campus
Tim Pallesen
Reporter
Architects for the Blair Family YMCA have released conceptual renderings to show how a new Blair Library could appear if built next to the YMCA.
The computer-generated renderings also picture a conference center with a wedding terrace overlooking a large botanical garden.
The city council voted May 25 to build a new library at a site to be chosen.
"We at the YMCA would like you to join us on our campus," board member Sandra Ellis told a city advisory board Monday where the YMCA concept was unveiled.
The city council's finance committee will meet with library leaders next month to recommend a site for the new library.
The Omaha architects who designed the existing YMCA building presented the "community hub" concept in which the YMCA and library would connect with a large meeting room suitable for weddings.
"We want to get you as excited about this opportunity as we are," architect Randall Palandri told the advisory board. "So much good could come out of this collaboration."
Two city councilmen, Gary Fanoele and Frank Wolff, suggested May 25 that a 7,500-square-foot conference center be built next to the new library.
The full council hasn't voted on that idea.
But the YMCA architects asked the advisory board to envision such an adjoining conference center opening onto a terrace with a gazebo designed for outdoor weddings.
The gazebo is pictured in one rendering overlooking what the YMCA calls Legacy Gardens, a botanical garden similar to Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha. The YMCA would seek volunteer gardeners to tend the public botanical garden, Ellis said.
Martin Rump, a local architect on the committee that will recommend a library site, complimented the YMCA on its presentation Tuesday.
"It's really well done," he said, calling the garden with walking paths for summer reading a "really good idea."
A majority of council members want the new library to be built at a site with enough room for future expansion.
Rump said the YMCA site is larger than another possible site located east of Walgreen's on Washington Street. "The Walgreen's site is the most restricted for future expansion," he said.
Three other vacant properties on North Highway 75 also would provide enough acreage for future expansion, Rump said.
Those three sites, located from the Deerfield subdivision south to 18th Avenue, also have generated interest among library advocates.
Rump said the decision on where to locate the new library also will be based on which site has the best access for vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
Both the YMCA site in southeast Blair and the three sites in north Blair tie into the city's network of pedestrian trails.
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