Council approves Park Grove Library remodel and development agreement with Washington County, 4–1

Cottage Grove’s City Council on Sept. 17 approved a site-plan review and a development agreement with Washington County to remodel and expand the Park Grove Library at 7900 Hemingway Avenue South. Both motions passed by 4–1; Mayor Bailey announced a planned no vote and explained concerns about future capacity and the site’s constraints.

Senior planner Sam Parrott introduced the application as a site-plan review for façade improvements, parking reconfiguration, and landscaping. The property is zoned R6 (high-density residential) and is guided as mixed-use in the city’s 2040 comprehensive plan. The proposal will remove certain awkward angled walls, add a second-story volume over the front entry for mechanical equipment only, reconfigure parking from angled one-way stalls to 90-degree stalls (resulting in 68 required and provided stalls), improve pedestrian access with sidewalks and marked crossings and add landscaping, a fenced children’s area, an outdoor story-time berm and a reading…