In-depth look at top 3 library sites

In 1901, Cedar Rapids had to decide where to build a new library.

Andrew Carnegie had pledged $50,000 for the building. No one could settle the argument about whether to put it east or west of the Cedar River, so the City Council considered building it on May's Island.

A year later, the Cedar River flooded. May's Island lost its appeal. The council eventually settled on 410 Third Ave. SE, home now to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.

The Flood of 2008 has the city deciding, again, where to build a new library, as the water destroyed the building at 500 First St. SE.

Three sites are under consideration. One is across the street from Carnegie's library. Another is across the park. A third option is farther east - and farther from the river.

Each site has pros and cons.

On Thursday, the library board will recommend one to the City Council. The council then will decide where the library will be built, weighing some of the same questions city leaders faced a century ago.

Be sure to share your opinion in our poll at the end of the article. For even more information on the library decision, be sure to visit the  Linn County Crossroads blog.

Emerald Knights

The Emerald Knights site is the simple, practical choice for the library.

It's cheap, well out of the flood plain and lies in a high-traffic area along First Avenue East, just off Interstate 380.

Buying the property would cost about $3.5 million, the city estimates.

The cost of relocating the current tenants would be the lowest of any of the sites, since most of the land is owned by a development firm called the St. Martin Land Co.

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“It would seem to be a very good place for a library. It also appears to be the most economical,” said Tom Slattery of Cedar Rapids, a board member for the St. Martin Land Co. “You're buying land and not buying buildings.”

Bob's Wholesale Cars owns 15 percent of the block. Slattery's firm owns the other 85 percent, including a building that houses Home Appliance, Jim's Tune-Up Service and the empty Emerald Knights hall.

The property is seven blocks from the Cedar River. Though water covered much of downtown Cedar Rapids in June 2008, it did not pass Fifth Street SE on Second Avenue, and the land rises from there to the Emerald Knights block. This matters not just to residents who fear a second flood could again take away their library but also to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

FEMA doesn't like to pay for building projects at risk of flooding, so the Emerald Knights site scores well. Also, the potential cost of flood insurance at the TrueNorth property - which did take on some floodwater - makes the Emerald Knights site more appealing.

The Emerald Knights block is one of the highest-traffic spots in Cedar Rapids, which is a pro and a con. On the one hand, some 25,000 cars pass by the block every day. On the other hand, 25,000 cars would pass the library every day, and they'll be zipping on and off the interstate, trying to navigate congested streets to get to the library parking ramp that would rise along First Avenue East.

“Some people think that's too much traffic there, but if there is, it lasts 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening,” Slattery said.

Opponents of the Emerald Knights block, such as the Downtown District, see it as a desertion of the downtown and would prefer the library add its weight to the downtown core. Slattery rejects this, arguing the downtown and medical districts are inching closer to each other anyway, and a library in that block would cement the connection.

One last unresolved question for the Emerald Knights' location is whether FEMA will allow the city to relocate its Central Fire Station. The station, formerly at 222 Third St. NW, was destroyed in the flood, and FEMA has twice denied the city's application for funding to rebuild in a new place.

City Council member Tom Podzimek has suggested the Emerald Knights site would be good for the fire station, in part because of the access to I-380. The city is again appealing FEMA's decision on the fire station.

“Sooner or later, it really becomes a political issue,” said Greg Eyerly, the city's flood recovery director. “Once it becomes that political issue, they'll see the light.”

Gazette Communications

The Gazette Communications block's potential as a library site has been defined by the rise and fall of a parking ramp.

The site, a last-second entry in the discussion, came on strong in large part because it has a parking ramp. That was important because building a new parking garage could cost almost $5 million, architects said.

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Structural analysis showed the ramp must be demolished, though, adding between $2 million and $5 million for new parking to the estimated cost of the project, which was already more expensive than the Emerald Knights' site.

The Gazette Communications site remains appealing, though, because it's close to Greene Square Park and the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, said Bob Pasicznyuk, the library director.

“There's just something about being around that park that just weaves it into the community,” Pasicznyuk said.

Two things separate the Gazette Communications site from the TrueNorth site - also on Greene Square Park. First, The Gazette and KCRG-TV9 buildings did not flood in 2008. Second, the block is large enough that even without the parking ramp, the library can build or find sufficient parking.

While The Gazette/KCRG-TV9 site appears to be the most expensive of the three sites, The Gazette Family of Companies has reason to sell. The estimated price for the block is $8 million, but Chuck Peters, president and CEO of the company, said Thursday that negotiations had yet to begin. Relocation expenses will be flexible as well.

The company is open to selling because KCRG-TV9 is long overdue for a giant digital upgrade. Employees could more easily learn the new digital system at a new location, instead of undertaking a logistical dance inside the current building, said John Phelan, senior director of broadcast distribution.

Also, the current buildings are too big for the media company, which has shrunk from about 600 employees to roughly 500 over the past two years. Except for KCRG-TV9, which needs its own building with access to Interstate 380 and a clear line of sight to a TV relay tower, the company could settle people into downtown offices and the company's Bowling Street SW printing facility. Even leasing downtown office space is a possibility, Peters said.

“We are at a stage where we know that our current space is not ideally configured and we know that we have to invest millions of dollars into digital television production,” Peters said. “Those are two things we know. So when somebody calls and says, ‘Would you be interested in talking with us?' the answer is yes.”

Plans call for a diagonal main library entrance at the corner of Third Avenue and Fifth Street SE, opening onto Greene Square Park.

Terry Pitts, executive director of the museum, said he prefers either the TrueNorth or Gazette site, but especially The Gazette block.

“My preference would be for the library to be within a block of the museum (which includes the TrueNorth site), although there is something especially compelling about The Gazette location,” Pitts wrote in an e-mail. “I think users of both the library and the museum would take advantage of this level of proximity, especially if there was a linking skywalk.”

TrueNorth

TrueNorth is the romantic site for a library.

A building there would look across Greene Square Park toward the old Carnegie library, now the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.

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The site's allure and issues were best summed up by Doug Elliott, library board vice president, right before he voted against it. “My heart calls out for the TrueNorth site,” he said, “but there are so many ‘what ifs.' ”

Doug Neumann, president of the Downtown District, agrees.

“A lot of people feel that way,” Neumann said. “The real magic is in that TrueNorth site.”

What drove the library board away from the site were the “what ifs,” particularly parking and flooding.

The board wants 315 free, library-specific parking spots at the new library. The TrueNorth block is not large enough to accommodate that.

The parking ramp next door is run by the city, and it's separated from the block by railroad tracks. With no promise from the city that it would help the library secure the parking it wants and with no clear option for building a parking lot or ramp, the board turned to the Emerald Knights and Gazette sites, which have more room.

In June 2008, the TrueNorth building took on floodwater in two below-grade parts of the building, said Randy Rings, general counsel for the company. Most of the building stayed dry, but part of the property may be in the new, yet-to-be-released 500-year flood plain map.

This could affect how much the library would have to pay for flood insurance, and it could affect how much the Federal Emergency Management Agency pays for construction of the new library at that site.

FEMA officials will not accept any site in the 100-year plain and does not recommend any site in the 500-year plain. It will negotiate, however, depending on local conditions and flood mitigation techniques.

Answers to these questions have been elusive, but a library on the site would be built above the flood plain, the same way the new federal courthouse is elevated.

Parking problems can be solved, said Neumann, and the community shouldn't walk away from the TrueNorth site until it gets answers to questions about the flood plain, flood insurance and FEMA rules.

“If that's still an open-ended question, could (the site) remain under consideration until we get it answered?” Neumann said.

City staff are still communicating with TrueNorth about the property. TrueNorth and the owner of the adjacent parking lot will charge an estimated $5 million for the land and $3.5 million for relocation costs. Those prices are under negotiation, and the company has reopened a search for office space in downtown Cedar Rapids, Rings said.

“The odds are pretty good that we could find something,” Rings said.

What's next

• The library board will choose a library site Thursday for final recommendation to the City Council.

• The library board will present its recommendation to the council on Feb. 10, and the council expects to vote on Feb. 24.

• Meanwhile, city staff will explain the three sites to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

• FEMA will determine, probably within a month, how much it will help pay for each project.

• FEMA's response may affect the council's decision.

Weigh in

[polldaddy poll=2621287]

The Emerald Knights site is the simple, practical choice for the library.

It's cheap, well out of the flood plain and lies in a high-traffic area along First Avenue East, just off Interstate 380.

Buying the property would cost about $3.5 million, the city estimates.

The cost of relocating the current tenants would be the lowest of any of the sites, since most of the land is owned by a development firm called the St. Martin Land Co.

“It would seem to be a very good place for a library. It also appears to be the most economical,” said Tom Slattery of Cedar Rapids, a board member for the St. Martin Land Co. “You're buying land and not buying buildings.”

Bob's Wholesale Cars owns 15 percent of the block. Slattery's firm owns the other 85 percent, including a building that houses Home Appliance, Jim's Tune-Up Service and the empty Emerald Knights hall.

The property is seven blocks from the Cedar River. Though water covered much of downtown Cedar Rapids in June 2008, it did not pass Fifth Street SE on Second Avenue, and the land rises from there to the Emerald Knights block. This matters not just to residents who fear a second flood could again take away their library but also to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

FEMA doesn't like to pay for building projects at risk of flooding, so the Emerald Knights site scores well. Also, the potential cost of flood insurance at the TrueNorth property - which did take on some floodwater - makes the Emerald Knights site more appealing.

The Emerald Knights block is one of the highest-traffic spots in Cedar Rapids, which is a pro and a con. On the one hand, some 25,000 cars pass by the block every day. On the other hand, 25,000 cars would pass the library every day, and they'll be zipping on and off the interstate, trying to navigate congested streets to get to the library parking ramp that would rise along First Avenue East.

“Some people think that's too much traffic there, but if there is, it lasts 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening,” Slattery said.

Opponents of the Emerald Knights block, such as the Downtown District, see it as a desertion of the downtown and would prefer the library add its weight to the downtown core. Slattery rejects this, arguing the downtown and medical districts are inching closer to each other anyway, and a library in that block would cement the connection.

One last unresolved question for the Emerald Knights' location is whether FEMA will allow the city to relocate its Central Fire Station. The station, formerly at 222 Third St. NW, was destroyed in the flood, and FEMA has twice denied the city's application for funding to rebuild in a new place.

City Council member Tom Podzimek has suggested the Emerald Knights site would be good for the fire station, in part because of the access to I-380. The city is again appealing FEMA's decision on the fire station.

“Sooner or later, it really becomes a political issue,” said Greg Eyerly, the city's flood recovery director. “Once it becomes that political issue, they'll see the light.”