COMMUNITY NEWS

Library officials release renderings of renovation

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Click the renderings to view larger versions of the images.

To help residents see proposed structural changes to the North Bellmore Public Library, architects released renderings of what the building would look like if an $8.9 million capital bond were to pass next month.

The drawings were shown at public meetings about the planned revamp on April 13 and 14. Library officials held five sessions in March and April to give residents a chance to voice their opinions and offer suggestions about the renovation.

North Bellmore residents will head to the polls on May 19 to vote on the bond, which officials said would breathe new life into a building that is out of space and out of date.

Tom Bazzicalupo, who has been the library’s director for eight years, said that discussions among library staff members and trustees about a possible renovation began with suggestions to replace carpeting and paint the walls, but grew into much more.

After Ray Beeler, an architect from the Gallin Beeler Design Studio, began talking with staff members, it became clear that nearly every department had outgrown its space, Bazzicalupo said. So Beeler, Bazzicalupo, consultant Judy Lockman, the library board and staff members decided that the building needed a 4,000-square-foot addition.

Exterior ‘wrapper’

The proposed addition, which would increase usable library space by 21 percent, can best be described as a “wrapper,” Beeler said. Architects envision adding to the building at the front entrance and on every side except the one that faces Newbridge Road, so as not to interfere with traffic and a nearby North Bellmore Fire Department station.

The exterior rendering shows how the facility would be transformed by the addition to its north, south and east sides, Beeler said. The exterior walls would be mostly glass, which he said would open the library to the surrounding community, allowing passersby to see activities inside.

“The existing architecture is characterized by solid masonry,” he said. “Reflective glass will become open, transparent, inviting and engaging.”

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