APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Appleton is taking another step toward a new library.
The Library Board voted Tuesday to start taking developers’ proposals to create the new facility.
The vote was unanimous Tuesday. The Appleton Library board approved a request for proposal, or RFP for a new library.
Library Director Colleen Rortvedt spoke to FOX 11.
“The library has needs that have been explored over the past several years. Right now what we’re putting in this document is very general, preliminary needs.”
The RFP will ask developers to come up with a plan for the new facility.
Some of the preliminary needs set out in it say the building should be about 120,000 square feet, no more than three floors and should be able to provide adequate parking.
Developers have two paths they can choose from: the first would be to submit a proposal that would redevelop the current library site. The second would be to find another site and submit a proposal for that.
“It’s very important to keep the library in our central business district for so many, many reasons,” said Karen Harkness, Appleton’s community and economic development director.
The area the new facility would need to be encompasses the main downtown area of the city. City leaders want the library there to ensure it’s accessible.
Harkness says a new idea for the library is to make it mixed-use, meaning the building would have room for a private business.
“The reason you do that is to integrate the public and private use to make the development stronger, but also to add to your tax base.”
“We hadn’t seen mixed-use libraries. Kaukauna started doing it, Milwaukee has several of their branches that are mixed-use,” Rortvedt added.
The RFP does not include a cost and there is no budget at this point.
In 2015, the city council voted down plans to build a $37 million library on the Fox River Bluffs.
The full council still needs to vote on this new RFP before it goes public. The council will also need to approve the final plans for the library.
Appleton’s city council is expected to vote on the library board’s proposal November first.
Developers’ proposals will be due January 12th.
