CREST HAVEN – Unless freeholders change their minds July 14 at the 7 p.m. meeting, a $4.46-million contract will be awarded to build Stone Harbor Branch Library next to Borough Hall on the site of a former bank.
According to the meeting agenda distributed July 10, which is subject to change, Freeholder Will Morey is to introduce the resolution that will award to Aliano Brothers General Contractors, Inc. the $4.46-million contract for the long-awaited structure.
If approved, which is highly likely, the borough will be one step closer to ending an odyssey toward a “real” library that began in 2006. Although its residents pay about $1.4 million annually to the Cape May County Library System via the library tax, what they got in return was a small section of Borough Hall’s first floor.
The borough began initial deliberations in 2006 to construct a new facility.
In 2007, there was agreement that the county would initiate a proposal to bid the work to build the library. After that, the path to the new library became less than straightforward.
That oceanfront facility was to be built on borough-donated land, presently a municipal parking lot, between 95th and 96th streets. It was estimated at the time to encompass approximately 5,000 square feet and cost about $5 million.
All seemed well at that stage, and the architect produced a set of conceptual drawings to show the public. Proponents liked the idea of an ocean view while reading, opponents decried it as simply the wrong place to locate a public facility, in harm’s way, protected by only a small bulkhead from the ocean.
Through 2008, borough and county officials worked to create a viable plan to move forward, which included all manner of permitting, including CAFRA (Coastal Area Facility Review Act) and Department of Environmental Protection, no easy feat.
From 2009 – 2010 permit approvals languished. Stalled paperwork resulted in growing opposition to the beach site. Then, as groundbreaking was being planned, the plan hit a stone wall in 2011.
Mayor Suzanne Walters formed a Library Committee within Borough Council. By a vote of 4-2 a motion was approved to find a new site for the library.
The four “aye” votes included two of the original beach site opposition group’s most active representatives, Joselyn Rich and Karen Lane, having been elected to council on that issue.
A next location unveiled that year was a lot at Second Avenue and 94th Street. Almost simultaneously, another lot was identified adjacent to Borough Hall at 96th Street. The second location was the former site of Bank of America, which was being razed since the bank had decided to quit operating in the borough.
The county decided on that second site and, in 2012, bought the former Bank of America site, cleared lot for $750,000, and began to develop plans for the library branch.
At that point the county had spent (in addition to the $750,000 for land acquisition) another $400,000, primarily to support construction at the first site considered, the parking lot adjacent to the beach. That sum included money spent for consultants, attorneys’ fees, preliminary plans, permitting applications and architectural drawings but did not reflect countless staff and citizen man-hours to work on moving the reality of a library forward.
“The reason for the admittedly slow progress is the way government works,” said Deborah Poillon, director of county library services earlier this year at a meeting in Stone Harbor.
“There was a good deal of debate among Stone Harbor residents. We wanted to make sure we had their input as to all the details of the library, such as size and what should be included, and all these meetings took time as well as the bid process to hire an architect,” she said.
Borough Council President Barry Mastrangelo was appointed to a five-year term on the Cape May County Library Commission by freeholders Jan. 27.
Architect Kevin Settembrino of Red Bank presented renderings to freeholders Feb. 24 of the 10,000-square-foot, 60’ by 110,’ two-story library.
Settembrino explained the structure willl be 35 feet high. While some sought a third story, that would have exceeded allowed height, he noted.
A hip roof and dormers will be topped by a cupola. The façade resembles flag-and-cedar siding, but is a composite material with a color guaranteed for 15 years and the product guaranteed for 50 years, Settembrino said. A second floor balcony will face Second Avenue.
Floors will be wood-like vinyl, except for entrance, teaching kitchen and restrooms, which will be ceramic tile.
Elevation will be just over 2.5 feet above basic flood elevation in order to minimize flood insurance costs, he noted.
At that meeting, AnnMarie McMahon, county Facilities and Services director, said, “I started working on this in 2010. It was on the beachfront lot. Garrison was architect and we received CAFRA approvals. A contract was awarded, and the county got sued by the contractor because it retracted the bid.”
To that point, McMahon said $476,000 had been expended, which “is not uncommon when you are incurring architect’s and CAFRA, and engineer’s fees.”
In April, 2013, the county received 15 architectural proposals, and selected Settembrino’s proposal for a fee of $172,560. The scope of the project was to be for 10,000 square feet for $3 million plus $320,000 for furniture. It was to have a six-month design phase and 18 months for construction.
May 2013 was the kickoff of meetings with borough officials and residents, she said.
In total, there were “15 meetings with Stone Harbor folk,” McMahon said. She noted in other communities there had been “two or three meetings” for a branch library.
After “weeding through the wish list,” the cost estimate came back “much higher than $3.32 million. The final design in July 2014 was nearly $5.2 million. I kicked and screamed a little bit, and went back to Kevin (Settembrino). We made compromises. We tried to get to $3 million, but the building didn’t suit any of our needs,” McMahon said.
“That’s when the board was approached to permit a higher amount, $4.7 million, with $500,000 for books, computers, etc. $5.2 million was the maximum we could approve, because we had already spent $476,000,” she noted.
With about $1.2 million “already expended on the project, we’re looking at a $6.4 million building. I hope the residents will be happy. They had a lot of input,” McMahon said. “They have a lot of experience. They wanted to be involved in this project.”
(ED. NOTE: Camille Sailer contributed to this article.)
