A group of 13 fifth-graders who attend The Downtown School displayed their creativity as they provided suggestions Thursday for the new Central Library, including a petting area for animals such as rabbits and mice.
“They would be in cages,” said Gabe Tappe, a 10-year-old student in Jan Morris’ class. “They wouldn’t be running loose.”
The students participated in the second meeting between residents and planners about the new Central Library. Last November, about 70 people met with county planners at the existing Central Library on West Fifth Street.
In November 2010, voters approved a $40 million bond referendum to construct new or renovated libraries in central Winston-Salem, Clemmons and Kernersville. The new Central Library would be completed by the middle of 2015, according to the county’s timetable for its library projects.
The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners has decided to spend $27 million on the new library.
The attendees suggested that the new Central Library should have automated check-out/in system for books and other materials, an enclosed courtyard, an exterior digital billboard, solar panels, a rooftop garden, wireless Internet connection, free parking and a coffee shop and vending machines.
The children had other ideas on how to spend that $27 million, including building rooms where young children could read and play, and another room for older children who want to study, two other students said. A fish tank could be available for children to look at while they read.
Another student also suggested a classroom for activities such as cooking and movie-making.
“You could get to these places by following the rocks on the floor,” said Cody Combs, 10.
Before the students’ presentation, Morris said that the children wanted to share their ideas for the new library with the nearly 80 people who gathered with county planners during a public meeting at the Rhodes Center for the Arts on Spruce Street.
Glenn Simmons, a principal planner for the City-County Planning Board, said the students had good ideas, and he will share them and suggestions from adult residents with a consultant who will create a design plan for the building.
The audience divided into two groups and discussed for about 60 minutes the new library’s exterior, community spaces, technology and its activities and services.
Some said that the new library should reflect the designs of other newly constructed buildings downtown.
Paul Ragsdale of Winston-Salem said that the new library should have a uniquely designed entrance that would discourage people from loitering in front of the building.
Several homeless people gather daily at the existing library’s entrance.
“That entrance should really make an impression,” Ragsdale said. “It will set a tempo for what people can expect their library should be.”
The existing Central Library on West Fifth Street was built in 1953. The board of directors of Preserve Historic Forsyth Inc. has recommended that it be preserved and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to a handout at the meeting.
Some attendees said that the existing library is not the best site for a new building. Ragsdale and others said that the existing building and property could be sold after the new library is built. The commissioners will decide the location of the new library.
The new library should have a large children’s area with some materials for adults, said Dave Fergusson, a former deputy director of the library.
“Parents could enjoy themselves while their children are in the library,” Fergusson said.
jhinton@wsjournal.com
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