Cape orders emergency library repairs

CAPE ELIZABETH — In November, Cape Elizabeth voters will be asked to bond up to $6 million to rebuild the Thomas Memorial Library. Unfortunately, said Town Manager Michael McGovern, the building can’t wait that long.

Following a July 17 meeting with Library Director Jay Scherma and Facilities Manager Greg Marles, McGovern has ordered $9,000 in “emergency repairs” to the building, parts of which date to 1849. In addition, the Town Council is scheduled to vote Aug. 13 on a $15,000 plan to tear down a similarly dilapidated, town-owned building adjacent to the library.

“The property needs immediate work,” wrote McGovern in a memo to town councilors.   “The porch of the old library has failing railings, the main front doors are rusting away causing a safety hazard, the main walkway needs repairs and paint is peeling off the connector building on a daily basis.

“These are only top of the list problems and there are additional issues with the front columns, the front steps and landing, rotting wood throughout, casement windows that no longer open, wheelchair lifts that vibrate so much that folks are scared to ride them and dozens of other items.”

Issues with the library have been well publicized and most of the issues now being examined were among 102 “deficiencies” documented in a 2007 “needs assessment” prepared by Himmel & Wilson Library Consultants, of Milton, Wis.

McGovern said he will “move forward immediately” with repairs to railings and doors “at a cost not to exceed $6,000.”

“The railings are on a porch that people do not generally go on,” said McGovern on Tuesday. “But if someone reports a safety issue we have, I think, an obligation to make it safe.”

“The try to keep people away from the porch but it is an area of egress as a fire exit, so want to be sure it is safe,” said Scherma.

The doors, which are on the main entrance in the newest part of the library, dating to 1986, have “literally rotted through,” said Scherma.

“If a child were to fall there are sharp edges there, so that is something we do not want to wait any longer on,” he said, adding that the new doors will be repurposed when the time comes, either in the new library or elsewhere in town.

McGovern said he also will set aside $3,000 for walkway fixed and “spot painting.” The money will come from a $50,000 fund approved by the council last year for stop-gap repairs while the town debates the larger rebuild issue. That account has $36,000 remaining, said McGovern.

As envisioned, the plan is for a $7.5 million renovation, with $6 million bonded by the town and $1.5 million raised privately. That’s a considerable cut, considering that renovation estimates at one point ranged as high as $11 million.

If approved by voters, work could begin as soon as 2014 to raze all but the front “Old Pond Cove School” section of the library, facing Scott Dyer Road. Then, a new two-story structure measuring roughly 20,000 square feet would be added behind the Pond Cove building. Pennsylvania-based Casaccio Architects has presented two distinct plans, the most recent of which attempts to evoke a “Colonial-era feel mixed with modern sensibilities.”

The building at 7 Holman Road, whose fate the council will decide on Aug. 13, was obtained by the town for $305,000 in 2007, when the idea of a library expansion was first broached. The house lot was purchased to “square off” the library property and will most likely be a landscaped area, or part of the parking lot, depending on a final design.

McGovern said the building, vacant since the town took it on, "needs too much money to render habitable.” It also is not suitable for use as a temporary library during renovations because it is not compliant with disability standards and because the floors will not bear the weight of multiple bookshelves.

If the council approves the demolition, $12,000 will remain in the library maintenance account. That money would be held for any additional needs that may crop up, said McGovern.