Editor:
After seeing the municipal hall/library rendering for option 3 in your March 8 Coast Reporter, I would like to recommend that the council take this opportunity to think outside the box and not consider spending $8.25 million to get a result that looks like this.
Why not use this opportunity to relocate the library into Seaside Centre, which seems to be drastically under-utilized. An expansion can be added in the lawn area next to the RCMP office in order to accommodate the library as well as other community uses. This would give the library a much better user relationship than with the municipal hall. They might even consider keeping a component in the shopping mall where it adds life to an often dull space and the mall owners should be happy to keep the library component as a people draw for the merchants.
The municipal hall can then be renovated to incorporate the library space so an addition is not required and then a proper lobby can be designed on the ground floor to accommodate all of the public, staff and council interface, so that the public are not required to go to the upper floor. I think the tower should be removed. I am sure in its day that people came from far and wide to climb three floors to view the surrounding area. To keep it today would require elevator access to meet the requirement of universal accessibility. With a well-designed ground floor lobby with council chamber access as well as access to planning, building, tax payment etc. we would have a much more public friendly municipal hall than we currently have, as well as being aesthetically improved.
Brian Hulme, Sechelt
