Cornish library move a narrow go

By PATRICK O’GRADY

Valley News Correspondent

Published: 03-20-2023 10:36 AM

CORNISH — In a Town Meeting that drew a standing-room-only crowd at the Cornish Elementary School gymnasium on Saturday, voters narrowly approved a petitioned article that clears the way for renovating the town’s former general store and making it the Cornish Library and Community Center.

By a ballot vote of 268-256, residents agreed to accept the shuttered store on Route 120 as a donation from resident Colleen O’Neill, who has owned the building since 2016.

O’Neill, who was married to famed writer J.D. Salinger, a Cornish resident who died in 2010, gave the town until the end of this month to accept her gift.

Saturday’s vote (51% to 49%) seemingly ends a lengthy and sometimes heated debate over whether to upgrade the nearby George H. Stowell Free Library, which opened in 1910, or move to the proposed new site.

“What a team effort,” O’Neill said following the vote. “We are very happy and excited.”

After a civil 90-minute discussion on the pros and cons of moving the library, it took roughly the same amount of time for paper ballots to be cast and counted. Not taking any chances, Town Moderator Gwyn Gallagher had the votes hand-counted three times before the final result was announced.

Under the approved article, the estimated $2.4 million needed to renovate the former store must be raised within five years and will not include any financial obligation by the town. In addition, the building must always be used as a library and community center.

“It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Sue Chandler, a member of the Selectboard-appointed Cornish Library Exploratory Committee, told residents during her presentation. (Last fall, the committee voted, 4-3, to move the library.)

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The Stowell Library, built with a donation from its namesake, has no indoor plumbing — other than a compost toilet in the basement — or running water. Parking is also in short supply.

At the 2022 Town Meeting, voters signed off on the town acquiring a vacant lot adjacent to the library to be used for septic system and well.

A group called “Save the Stowell” argued that improvements, including getting the library in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, could be done for $400,000 to $1.8 million, depending on the project’s scope.

Supporters of keeping the library where it is talked about the Stowell’s history and said it could be renovated for a lot less money than renovating the former general store.

“We can raise the money to do this job without any cost to the taxpayer,” said resident Larry Dingee, a former member of the Selectboard. He put the cost of renovating the library, based on an architect’s plan, at $565,000.

Stowell’s trustees seemed to have made up their minds early on in the move-or-stay-put discussions, resident Troy Simino said.

“They never brought forward anything that asked the question of the people of Cornish, ‘Would you save this building?’” Simino said. “It is by far, the nicest building we own in this town. I think we should put in the effort to save it. I know we can. I know we should.”

Heidi Jaarsma, who served on the exploratory committee and opposed moving the library, said the new larger space would cost taxpayers much more to maintain.

“A smaller building is more sustainable and more affordable over the long term,” Jaarsma said.

Added resident Cheston Newbold, “Are we going to throw that building down the drain? Are we going to make it storage for the historical society? Come on, folks. This is a beautiful building that should be saved and can be at a reasonable cost.”

Resident Merilyn Bourne, a former Selectboard member, said the estimated cost of $565,000 to improve the Stowell would not make the library’s interior any better.

“It gets you access,” Bourne said. “It gets you in the door.”

She said the aisles with the library’s collection need to be 36 inches wide to comply with the American with Disabilities Act, but the Stowell’s are just 30 inches wide.

“In order to make the stacks accessible, you would have to remake an entire row and destroy what is in the library,” Bourne said.

As for the Stowell, Bourne said it won’t be abandoned and its historical architecture won’t change. “The Stowell is not going anywhere,” she reiterated.

Former Stowell Librarian Kate Freeland said the library was inadequate 35 years ago and while the town can renovate it, it still won’t meet the needs of the town today or in the future.

“We have the opportunity to create a library to serve us today and the next 100 years,” Freeland said. “Let’s do it.”

Jeremiah Goulet, of Banwell Architects in Lebanon, said the renovated building will allow the library to increase its collection from between 7,000 and 8,000 to 10,000 to 12,000, have a larger children’s room, technology area with computers and a meeting room, among other things. There will be at least 14 parking spaces.

At Saturday’s Town Meeting, the article was amended to require the new library already be furnished, using private money, upon opening.

The nonprofit Cornish Community Initiative is spearheading the private fundraising drive to renovate the former store. O’Neill, who has lived in town since 1988 and serves on the group’s board of directors, told the Valley News last week that about $500,000 in pledges have already been made.

In other Town Meeting votes on Saturday, residents approved $642,604 for town expenses.

All articles to appropriate money for several capital reserve funds, including $125,000 for paving, $100,000 for highway heavy equipment and $10,000 for the bridge capital reserve fund passed by voice vote. The withdrawal of $60,000 from the police department capital reserve fund to buy a new police vehicle was approved as was payment of $32,285 for the third and final year of a lease-purchase agreement to buy self-contained breathing apparatus for the fire department also passed by voice vote.

The 5½-hour meeting attracted nearly half of the town’s 1,185 registered voters.

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.

CORRECTION: Cheston Newbold spoke at Saturday’s Town Meeting about the Cornish library. His name was incorrect in an earlier version of this story.

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