Lake Oswego will pay an Oregon firm up to $299,925 to guide the city's effort to build a new library on the west side of town.
The City Council voted Tuesday, Oct. 20, to hire Shiels Obletz Johnsen (SOJ) as the owner's representative for the project, as first reported by the Lake Oswego Review. SOJ will manage site selection, design, acquisition and financial planning for the new facility.
The firm will be paid based on hours worked, with total spending capped just under $300,000.
Library Director Melissa Kelly told the council the current building "has reached the limit of its useful life despite care and maintenance and its footprint can't be expanded to meet community needs at its existing site."
Kelly said the owner's representative role would provide technical expertise the city needs to reduce risk and keep the project on schedule.
The city has pointed to urban renewal as the likely way to pay for a new library. Urban renewal captures taxes tied to rising property values and directs the money toward public improvements. Council members said at a July meeting that the new building should sit in or near an existing urban renewal district to make financing easier.
The current library at 706 Fourth St. in the First Addition neighborhood was completed in 1983. It faces seismic deficiencies, water intrusion and building system failures, according to the city's library planning page. Kelly has recommended a 2.5- to 3.5-acre site that could hold a two-story building more than twice the current library's size.
Two city task forces are now working on the project. The Future Library Task Force will evaluate potential sites and recommend a location. The Library Site Reuse Task Force will study what to do with the existing property after the library moves. The council has discussed selling the current site to help fund construction.
"We do want to be realistic, because if we're not selling the site, and we retain the site, that means we're investing in the site," Mayor Joe Buck said at the July meeting. "Where's that money coming from?"
Not everyone supports the plan. An Oct. 11 opinion piece in the Lake Oswego Review argued the city should study renovating the current building rather than replacing it. The writer noted the city created task forces for a new site and for reuse of the old one but none to examine whether the existing library could be upgraded.
City council candidate Bryan Guiney said in an Oct. 9 candidate forum that residents deserve a clear comparison of renovation versus new construction, including costs, benefits and neighborhood impacts.
The city expects the analysis and decision phases to extend through 2028. Design and construction of a new library could take place between 2029 and 2031.
