The issue involving what will become of the old library is currently being discussed by the Selectmen and residents of Common Street and Lewis Avenue at town meetings. Since the new Walpole library will be ready for use in a few months, the town must come to a profitable and municipal decision soon. The issue has been pushed aside since 2009 so the building will be vacant for one to two years before the town can act on the final ultimatum.
During the past meetings, possible outcomes of the library have been housing, a senior center, an extension of town hall, or selling the land for revenue. Senior housing was quickly ruled out by local residents because it would not be suitable for the neighborhood. Also, the idea of building and selling a house on the plot of land was tossed aside because the area is worth less then 350,000 dollars and not big enough for the town to make a significant profit. Selling the land for revenue would not be successful because of the poor economy and not many businesses are looking to putting money into a new location. The lot could be vacant for longer than expected if the town chooses to wait for entrepreneurs. In addition, fundraising for a senior center is underway and the library’s lot is an option for the location of the center. Although residents of the neighborhood eliminated senior housing as an option, this idea could be accommodating because it is near the center of town but also located in a neighborhood.
Sam Obar • Oct 3, 2011 at 6:23 pm
Very interesting perspective. What amazes me is that it took 2 whole years before the town actually started talking about what to do with the old library. We knew back in June 2009 that a new library was on its way, yet Town Hall waited until August 2011 before they brought the neighbors together to discuss it.
At the rate we’re going, this building is likely to remain vacant for at least another 2 years, if not more. It will sit wasting space while the rest of our town departments run out of room to do their work. And all because we didn’t start talking about early enough.
Also of interest is the fact that no one at Town Hall has looked into the costs of upgrading the handicapped accessibility at the old library – despite the fact that, again, we knew back in June 2009 that we would inevitably have to make it handicapped accessible for whatever new use it became. So 2 years have gone by, and we still don’t even know how much it would cost to make it accessible. It would not have been difficult for the town to get an estimate of how much this would cost.