ROCKPORT, Maine — A citizens group has asked that a question be placed on the next municipal ballot to ask residents whether any expansion of the public library should be limited to the current location.
The issue of the library’s location has been a controversial one for the past few years.
The proposal by the citizens group comes as the Rockport Library Committee undertakes a study to determine the needs of the community. The committee had lobbied last fall for a new, larger facility at the former Rockport Elementary School site.
In November, residents rejected two library related referendums. The ballot question that asked whether the library should be located at the former school site, now owned by the town, was rejected 1,065 to 786. The other question to develop a plan for a new library failed 989 to 867.
Last month, a group calling itself Friends of Rockport presented a proposed warrant article to the Rockport Select Board. That article states that “any reconstruction, expansion, improvement, renovation, or replacement of the Rockport Public Library be limited to it’s current location at 1 Limerock Street.”
The former elementary school site is located near the intersection of Routes 1 and 90 within a mile of the current downtown location.
Sally Cook, a member of the Friends group, said the hope is that the Select Board will place the question on the June ballot.
“There is a large silent group that wants the library to remain where it is,” Cook said.
Select Board Chairman William Chapman said the board will consider the ballot question request at its next meeting scheduled for Feb. 9. He said the board could place it on the ballot or require the group to collect signatures equal to 10 percent of the people who voted in the last gubernatorial election. The number of signatures of registered Rockport voters needed to force a referendum would be about 190.
He said the Friends of Rockport group should not be confused with the longstanding Friends of the Rockport Public Library which has raised significant amounts of money for the library. The latter group took no position on the November ballot questions, Chapman said.
Kathleen Meil, chair of the Rockport Library Committee, said Friday that if a ballot item is placed on the ballot the committee would consider taking a stand but that it was too early to comment on such a proposal.
The Library Committee voted 4-1 at its Tuesday night meeting to hire a consultant to do a study on the library services needs of the town. That study is expected to be completed by the end of June, Meil said. Steve Podgajny, the director of the Portland Public Library and a library consultant is doing the study for $4,100, which will be paid from the endowment fund.
At the same time, the town is seeking proposals from engineers to do a thorough independent review of the current building, she said.
Once those two reviews are done, the committee will consider which direction to take.
“We wanted to start with a fresh slate,” Meil said.
The Library Committee proposed a new library at the former elementary school site, saying that the current location does not provide enough space for programs or parking.
The library’s steering committee held a series of meetings throughout the town last year to garner input on what residents want for a new library. The committee issued a report in June, recommending a new library be built at the former Rockport Elementary School property owned by the town.
The committee indicated in its recommendation that a new building should be at least 10,000 square feet and the panel estimated that 14,000 square feet would be needed in the foreseeable future. The existing library covers 3,324 square feet.