A rendering shows a planned new Roselle Public Library.
Courtesy of Product Architecture + Design
The Roselle Public Library District and the village are moving forward with a plan to swap properties now that voters have approved funding for a new library building on what is currently municipal-owned land.
The district secured voter permission to issue $22 million in bonds to create a neighborhood library on the site of the former Trinity Community Center. The village now owns that parcel along Maple Avenue.
Under the terms of their land swap agreement, the library district will continue serving patrons out of its Park Street facility until the construction of the new one is complete. The village, in turn, will take ownership of the existing building once the library moves to the new campus.
Roselle Mayor David Pileski hailed the agreement as an example of how “two different taxing bodies who have very different missions could work together in their respective ways to really create more value for their stakeholders.”
In addition to discussing a redevelopment of the current library property, the village will “engage the community in a broader conversation about the growth and vision for the Village Center in downtown Roselle,” according to a joint statement with the library.
“Us working together to support each other and our different missions is really going to give Roselle a unique generational opportunity that we have not seen since we developed our Main Street” 20-plus years ago, Pileski said Wednesday.
Now, there’s a lot of interest from retail and other shopping experiences, the mayor said, but there’s also a lack of “great retail storefront space.”
“I think, in general, what we’d like to do is see something that has the density of what we’ve seen Main Street develop towards, with that ability to have a mixed-use there,” Pileski said.
Roselle will leverage the same planning consulting firm the village used for its 2016 comprehensive plan to refresh “just this specific area,” the mayor said. Officials also will seek feedback from residents as well as business owners and developers.
“The other thing that we think would be really valuable is to have property that’s adjacent to our already flourishing downtown to help us make sure that we can expand parking as needed … Now, would I say we need a parking garage today? No, those are expensive, long-term assets,” Pileski said.
But, he added, “having that land available to us to reconfigure and do that once we hit the right kind of density and performance, that opens up a whole lot of future success for our area as well.”
Per the agreement with the library, the village will handle the demolition and site preparation up to $450,000. If costs exceed that amount, the village and library will need to determine cost-sharing. The district is “wholly responsible” for the construction of the new library.
“Of course, the library is excited, but when we talk to people who come by and want to know about when we’re going to get going, there’s just a lot of energy,” said Samantha Johnson, the library’s executive director.
The new library will include expanded areas dedicated to youth and technology, plus adjacent parking and a drive-up service window.
“We are now going to transition to the preparation stages for the new building project, which we anticipate will last throughout 2025,” said Library Board President Katie Smith in the statement.