Cedar Rapids Public Library Will Build Downtown Facility at New Site
Library staff "relieved and excited" about FEMA decision regarding floodplain
Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 10/16/2009
- Library flooded in mid-2008
- Downtown sites identified
- At least $9 million more needed
This week, a City Council member revealed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has determined that the city must choose a new site. That would bring about $4 million more in federal funds, in addition to about $22 million already expected.
“CRPL trustees and staff all strongly supported the City Council’s decision to apply for relocation,” CRPL assistant director Tamara Glise told LJ. “Relocating a building isn’t something that FEMA does on their own; the building’s owner has to request it, which our Council did. City-hired consultants worked very closely with all of us to do this.”
“All of us are extremely relieved and excited about the word from FEMA,” she said.
Location, cost
“A great deal of preliminary work has already been done on site selection. Options have been narrowed down to a couple locations within the central business district area,” Glise said. “Both potential sites are good locations for a new building that can be protected from future flooding.”
CRPL hopes for a location decision by November, and for a new building to open by the end of 2012. While the total from FEMA is not clear, it could be $26 million, Glise said. Combined with $10 million from the state, that leaves about $9 million left to be raised “through other grant programs and capital fundraising,” she said.
CRPL's management team won the 2009 LJ Librarian of the Year award.
