I believe the Woodstock Public Library belongs in town, based on the key concepts of library facility development found in the New York State Library Trustees Handbook. They are accessibility for all, convenience and safety. A new library facility of 12,000 square feet, reflective of the historic library and Woodstock architecture, is large enough and entirely possible on the current library site and was supported by both the library’s Facilities Task Force and the library’s Master Facilities Plan.
With due respect to library trustees who have worked tirelessly for many years, and are working now to develop a much-needed library facility, I believe the divisive factions that developed in the community, fueled by the rejection of the annex project, dominated the process of facility development. Trustees did not engage an experienced library designer or architect, the first recommendation of their own Facilities Task Force, who produced a thorough study of facility development for the Woodstock Library in 2016. And no attempt was made to create consensus in the community, the necessity of community support being another guiding principle of successful library facility development.
Community conflict centered around the library building itself. Library trustees created a Master Facilities Plan, resulting in both building “all-new” or “new with a partial renovation of the front of the cherished historic building” as viable options. In 2018, trustees voted to “tear down and build new” and held a design contest as the means to develop a new library. Collaborative Library Design, centered at its core between the library director and an experienced library architect to create the interior design, was rejected.
Based on my experience as a library clerk and opinions of professional library designers, the chosen design did not reflect a good analysis of patron uses of the library or library safety. The design also did not reflect the size or architecture of buildings in Woodstock’s Hamlet Preservation Overlay District, a primary reason the design was voted down by the public in 2020.
In 2022, based primarily on the “poor condition of the library building,” reasons of “efficiency,” “parking” and “cost savings,” trustees decided to relocate the library out of town to the Light Industrial District. Was “accessibility and safety” strongly considered when deciding to relocate out of town? Was there consideration of the townspeople’s attachment to their historic library site in the hamlet? The architecture of the Miller-Howard building is impressive, but is the site itself and its location suitable for our public library? This is the project currently underway.
Special District Library
The Woodstock Public Library is a Special District Library and therefore a separate municipality from Woodstock. As a separate municipality, library trustees have not had to follow the Woodstock process of reviews by the Planning Board and other Woodstock agencies that would typically have taken place for a project of this scope and size. There has been no environmental review of the need to replace and enlarge the ten-year-old septic system, for example. There has been no review of buried toxic waste on the property in light of a high-use public building and excavation for the septic and elevator pit. There has been no traffic study of this complex location. There has been no review of a public library being established in the new Wellhead Protection district with its new guidelines. The Special District library bond vote held on May 10 was not a genuine representation of all Woodstock voters, a characteristic that “special district elections” are famous for.
Irregularities in process and law
Taxpayers are funding this complex library project and there are questions we must ask as we bear the financial responsibility. Presently, we have become liable for any remediation of the toxic buried manufacturing waste on the 10 Dixon Avenue site, should it be required by the Department of Environmental Conservation in the future. Several testing sites said, “No remediation necessary at this time.”
This project requires a zoning change, a change of use and increased occupancy and moving the library to a new location. Under the State Environmental Quality Review law, a law meant to protect public health and environmental safety, it would not normally be designated a Type 2 project, for which no environmental reviews are required. The Library Board of Trustees made themselves the Lead Agency under SEQR and voted to designate the project Type 2. According to the SEQR law, projects with the following characteristics are not a Type 2 project.
Change of zoning
Woodstock’s zoning law does not permit libraries in the Light Industrial District. The Woodstock Town Board voted to change the Use Chart in the zoning code to allow public libraries in the Light Industrial District. State law requires a Type 1 declaration for any change in zoning for a district larger than 25 acres. The Woodstock Light Industrial district totals 34+ acres.
Change of use and occupancy
Miller-Howard employees working in this office building numbered between 15 and 25 employees daily. The Woodstock Public Library will be a new use on this site and have a greatly increased occupancy as a high-use public building. A public meeting room on the second floor alone holds 60 people. Library use figures for 2018 and 2019 state well over 105,000 visits to the library per year.
Shouldn’t this volume of library traffic alone signal a traffic study of the corner of Route 212 and Dixon Avenue, already a dangerous intersection, as part of a larger environmental review?
Not a replacement in kind or a routine activity
This library project is not a replacement, rehabilitation or reconstruction of a facility, in kind, on the same site. The project converts an office building, including a partial renovation from a manufacturing plant, into a public library, with new construction to house an elevator and a septic replacement. Relocating the public library after it has been at the same location for nearly 100 years is not a routine activity on the same site.
Future environmental sustainability
It is commonly recognized that the library project is located in a sensitive environmental area, being in the Town’s water protection zone and the Town wells being nearby. These comments are not meant to reflect negatively on the value and importance of Woodstock’s public library, but Woodstock residents and taxpayers, who financially support the Special District Library, are active participants in this complex situation. We are asking for oversight for the project in light of the SEQR law and in order to avoid future unexpected problems and additional costs to taxpayers, as well as to ensure future environmental safety. We ask that public libraries be designated Special Use Permit in the zoning code Use Chart, requiring a Planning Board review for the purpose of future environmental sustainability. Our financial and environmental interests and concerns deserve to be represented by our Town officials as this project moves forward.
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