It was standing room only at City Hall Wednesday night as a group of Councillors held and open house meeting about the future of the Central Branch of the Ottawa Public Library.
Councillors Catherine McKenney, David Chernushenko, Mathieu Fleury, Jeff Leiper, and Tobi Nussbaum were in attendance, but no OPL staff came to the meeting.
The meeting comes roughly one month after the Ottawa Public Library announced a recommended site for the new central branch, which would be a joint OPL and Library and Archives Canada facility.
Leiper went through the history of the site selection, a piece of City-owned land at 557 Wellington Street, near the future Pimisi LRT station.
From there, a series of panelists made their cases for a central branch closer to the traditional downtown core. The first, Elizabeth Kristjansson argued older residents are the heaviest users of libraries, and that the library is as much a social destination as a place to check out books.
The second panelist, Graham Saul of Ecology Ottawa, spoke about the importance of “walkability,” the need for a central branch to be easily accessible on foot and by public transit.
The third panelist, architect Tony Griffths argued 557 Wellington is too far removed from the downtown core. He said a new central branch could be a “jewel in the crown” of the City, and suggested it be built at Confederation Park, a statement that was met with applause.
The idea of building at Confederation Park came up more than once. Councillor Chernushenko stressed Confederation Park is NCC land, not City-owned like 557 Wellington.
Councillor McKenney told reporters after the meeting that she feels downtown residents are clearly dissatisfied with OPL’s recommended site.
“It’s pretty obvious folks here understand where the central area of the city is and where placing a library will be most accessible for everyone,” McKenney said. “It’s pretty clear tonight people felt the area between Bronson and the Canal was the best area that met all of the criteria.”
McKenney said her next move is to bring the discussion back to the Mayor and the Library Board.
“This was such a departure from the way the weighting was applied to the criteria,” she said. “This comes from folks who actually live in the city and who use the library. These are folks that walk and take transit and cycle and actually come down and use the library. My next step is to go back and make the argument that perhaps it’s time to hit a pause button and make sure the right location is chosen.
“From what I saw and heard tonight, people have a real appetite to have a central library located in the centre of the city, in the core of the city,” McKenney said.
The Ottawa Public Library Board is scheduled to meet January 31 to consider the recommended site. It would go before full City Council February 8.
With files from Kristy Cameron.