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Town Square site advances in design after Library misses state LCIP award
Summary
Library staff said the city’s change of site from the Legacy Church to Town Square Park removed the project from eligibility for a state library capital grant; designers are working on site layout, a playground, parking and visibility features for the new library.
The Liberty Lake Library project was not selected for the state’s Library Capital Improvement Program (LCIP) grants after the City Council shifted the proposed site away from the Legacy Church, staff told the Board of Trustees.
Janie, the library director, said LCIP selections were published in the state budget and that the project was effectively disqualified when the council decided to move the library site from the Legacy Church to Town Square. She told trustees that the statewide process awarded about $6.5 million to selected projects and that Liberty Lake’s application—written around a Legacy Church renovation and tied to matching funds for that site—was not funded.
Library staff and board members discussed work that has continued on design and site planning for Town Square Park. Janie said architects from BCRA are preparing conceptual site plans for the park’s 4.4 acres, including options for library siting, entrances, parking layouts and pedestrian flow between Town Square and the municipal parking area so events and overflow can link between the two.
Trustees and staff said they asked designers to include a playground in the Town Square plan so the park can serve families, programming, the farmer’s market and library visitors. The group discussed building visibility from adjacent arterials, window placement facing the Pentagon/Pedantic area and situating parking to serve older patrons and families.
On funding, Janie said the project’s task-order funding to support planning and design work was about $150,000 and that the city had set aside more than $3 million in its capital budget for the library project. She reported that the library’s community survey had attracted more than 600 responses—up from about 517 responses in an August survey—information she said will help guide programming and space decisions.
No new grant award or construction appropriation was approved at the meeting; the board and staff focused on planning details that will be presented to the City Council. Janie said she will follow up with the state grant administrator to request any feedback the state may have provided on LCIP selections.
