Politics & Government

Downtown Renton Library Design Moves Forward

Library design open house draws a modest, but vocal crowd.

It’s uncertain whether the attendance at Wednesday night’s second downtown Renton library design meeting was due to the holiday season or decreasing interest.

About 35 people, including Miller Hull Partnership representatives, City of Renton Staff and a handful of members, attended Wednesday night’s second downtown Renton library design meeting at the Renton Pavilion Events Center. That’s in comparison to the 130 people who turned out for the first open house in mid-September.

Wednesday’s meeting where attendees used magic markers to write comments on large, poster-sized pages.

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The new downtown Renton library will be rich in color, made of durable materials and exude a sense of craft, said Ruth Baleiko of Miller Partnership. At the same time, the building will extend to the very edge of the property line, unlike the current structure (the former Big 5 Sporting Goods store).

“We want this library on display, advertising its wares,” she said while describing big windows and a large, “pavilion-like,” free-form interior that will allow for flexibility over time.

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Baleiko also described how the process will unfold going forward: design work and construction documentation will happen during the winter and spring, a third open house meeting will occur in March 2012, and construction is expected to begin in the summer or fall of next year.

Audience members expressed concerns over parking, safety and the amount of books and other resources that will be available in the new library.

King County Library System Director Bill Ptacek said, “One of the hallmarks of our library system — your library system — is access to the three or four million books,” owned by KCLS. Many of those books can be made available in 24 to 48 hours, he said.

Ptacek also added that many reference books are no longer available in print, and so there will be less printed material in the new library.

But Kerin Mainrender of Renton likes to have a selection to browse, in person, and said that many people cannot use computers for browsing due to poor eyesight.

Check back on Renton Patch for more updates about the new downtown Renton library and for information on the next design meeting, which is expected to occur in March 2012.


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