Astoria Library Renovation Study Accepted By City Council

Monday night, the Astoria City Council heard the results of a public library renovation study report.  Last year Ruth Metz Associates was hired by the City of Astoria to conduct a community assessment of the public library and how it could better fit the needs of the community.
The needs assessment ran from July to November with public forums and interviews with the library board and staff.  Comments from two public meetings were organized into a community wide survey.  Metz said the survey garnered extensive comments from the community.

“I’ve done many library surveys and never had quite the response, the number of respondents.  We had over 426 people comment through the survey about the library.” 

Metz said the top community priority was an attractive, affordable sustainable library for Astoria, with an updated design to enhance services


“These were the things, improving the quality of the collection, the currency of the collection, more spacious children’s area, updated technology and dedicated zones throughout the library for different purposes and age groups.”  

The study came up with two options for library improvement.  The first would keep the footprint of the existing Astor building with expansion into the basement level at a cost estimate of approximately $3.4 million.  The second option calls for expansion into the space where the Waldorf Hotel now stands.  That would allow the additional library space to be on a single level. The study’s cost estimate for option two is approximately $4.5 million.

 “When we started the project, our job was to figure out can the Astor library building house a twenty first century library that has enough space and can accommodate the functions of the library, meet the needs of the public in the existing building. But as we launched into the needs assessment process and we interviewed people and we talked to people in the community meetings and so forth,  we found that people were saying  - what about expanding, what about the Waldorf Hotel, and so we therefore looked at that as well.  So we started with one project – it was the same project.  We just looked at another option, and what the consultant team is recommending is the renovation of the Astor Library building with expansion to the east, which would include the Waldorf Hotel site.” 

Mayor Willis Van Dusen expressed enthusiasm for expansion into the Waldorf Hotel site and confidence the money can be raised for the project. 

 “That’s the direction that I really think we should go, and we’re not going to be able to do it unless we all do it together, but if we all do it together we can’t be stopped.  It will be magnificent.”

The City Council voted unanimously to accept the public library renovation study report.