The Stratford Public Library wants a new location and it wants it to be located in the Grand Trunk community hub.
The development of the Grand Trunk site, an area of 18-acres on the southern edge of downtown Stratford, is currently underway. An ad hoc committee and working groups are currently developing vision and guiding principles to steer the location’s development – and the community hub that would be a central feature of the development.
In a letter addressed to Joan Thomson, CAO of the City of Stratford, Krista Robinson, CEO at the library, highlighted the “glaringly inadequate” size of the library for a community the size of Stratford.
The current library, opened in 1903, is 12,472 square feet but it should be 20,000 square feet bigger, according to a space needs study conducted by Lemay in 2022.
“We believe that a library that is not only equitable but appropriately sized for the future, would be a valuable gathering space for the community,” the letter to the CAO reads. “We aim to provide both public and private space for the community: meeting rooms, an auditorium for performances and theatre, and flexible space for people gather and connect.”
The vision of a new library encompasses ample seating, an expanded collection space, and a more accommodating environment for the MakerSpace.
Accessibility and parking concerns, which continue to plague the current library, would be a “thing of the past,” if the library is included in the Grand Trunk plans.
The letter states that there is potential for synergy with the YMCA of Three Rivers, which has signed a memorandum of understanding with the city to build a new Y facility and community hub.
Mike Ennis, CEO of the local Y, just recently presented to the Grand Trunk committee on what a community hub may look like -- showing one nearby example that has a library included.
“This presents a unique opportunity to nurture both minds and bodies within a single, community-focused location,” the letter reads.
Additionally, the letter says that the library is prepared to embark on a capital fundraising campaign and to apply for grants to assist with the substantial cost such a project would entail.
Robinson will present the letter and petition city council to be an anchor tenant for the community hub at Monday night’s meeting.
In a report on the letter, staff recommends that the library’s request be forwarded to the ad Grand Trunk renewal committee.
