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Downtown phone‑booth library to get accessible platform, inclusive adjacent library and assistance button — construction targeted for summer
Summary
City capital‑projects staff updated the Unification and Public Arts Commission on a downtown phone‑booth library project: the design will add a concrete platform and an adjacent fully accessible library, an assistance button tied to visitor center staff, and construction is targeted for summer with a June 2024 cost estimate of about $90,000.
Janique Lanzetta, project manager with the City of Flagstaff Capital Improvements Division, updated the Unification and Public Arts Commission on April 14 on the downtown phone‑booth library project adjacent to the visitor center on Route 66.
Lanzetta said the site work will include relocating bike racks, adding two benches, and building a concrete platform around a converted phone booth (created by local artist Jake Bacon) so visitors can circulate and the booth area better accommodate people with mobility impairments. "The phone booth itself...is from the 1930s. And we could not change to make it fully ADA accessible. So that's how the platform came about," Lanzetta said.
To improve inclusivity, staff proposed adding a separate, fully ADA‑accessible library unit mounted on two posts next to the booth. Lanzetta said the two‑door library will differ slightly from earlier renderings and stressed that identical‑title stocking is impractical because of book size differences; as a mitigation the visitor center will staff an assistance button that community members can press to request help retrieving books from inside the booth. "Visitor center staff has agreed when the assistance button is pushed on the phone booth, they will come out and help get a book," she said.
Lanzetta presented a schedule that anticipates finalizing design updates (adding posts and the assistance button) in early summer, releasing a job‑order‑contract (JOC) procurement during the summer and beginning construction in August. She also provided a cost estimate from June 2024 of roughly $90,000, which she described as an early estimate that may need updating.
Commissioners asked about maintenance and book stocking. Lanzetta said donated or community‑stocked books will be the primary source of materials and that the project team will finalize the functional process for restocking and assistance as construction and operational planning continue.
No formal action was taken; the commission received the update and moved on to subsequent agenda items.
