At this year’s Annual Town Meeting, voters will be asked to approve two articles that would pave the way for accessibility improvements to the old library. Article 24 requests $55,000 to make the back entrance to the library ADA accessible and to create an accessible parking space. Article 25 asks for $20,000 to create a design and cost estimate for a universally accessible entrance at the front of the building on Fairbank Street.
This spring, the Board of Selectmen approved a three-year lease of the old library to the Harvard Cultural Collaborative, with the provision that the building have an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)–compliant entrance and parking space, or that the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board (AAB) provide a waiver allowing occupancy while work is being done to make the building accessible. The current parking space and entrances do not meet ADA regulations: The existing parking space is too small and not level, the slope of the path to the back entrance is too high, and the path pitches to one side.
The Old Library Accessibility Committee (OLAC), which has been studying options for the past year to make the building accessible, received an informal estimate of $55,000 in October to do the necessary grading and rebuilding of the path to the back door to meet ADA standards. The quote also included adding exterior lighting and replacing the back door with a wider door with an automatic opener. While this would meet ADA requirements for building accessibility, it would not meet the Cultural Collaborative’s goal of providing a single entrance for all.
To meet the goal of a “universal entrance,” OLAC member and architect Wendy Cote-Magan created a conceptual drawing that revived the building’s original front entrance on Fairbank Street and added a ramp for accessibility. The drawing was presented to the Board of Selectmen in December as OLAC’s preferred accessibility solution for the building, and the selectmen concurred. Article 25 asks for $20,000 for a design and engineering study and cost estimate to create that entrance. Because the cost of the renovation will likely trigger a requirement for full accessibility compliance, the study will also identify other code compliance issues inside the building and estimates to remedy those issues.
OLAC has already received responses to a request for quotes for the design study. Last week, members interviewed the three top respondents and ranked them in order of preference. Acting Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarro is currently negotiating price with the top choice so that the firm would be ready to begin work if the article passes.
If a new accessible entrance is created in front of the building, the entrance behind the building would not need to be accessible, according to Cote-Magan; instead, it would be considered an emergency exit. But the article to fund back entrance accessibility provides a backup plan. The path grading could wait, and OLAC could pursue a request for variances from the AAB. If the variances were granted, the Cultural Collaborative could use the building while plans were being drawn for the center entrance. If the variances were not granted, or if, in the future, the town voted against funding construction of the center entrance, the grading and path rebuilding to the back entrance would need to be completed. In any case, any unused portion of the $55,000 would automatically be returned to the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund on June 30, 2018.
