Westfield Washington Township has announced plans for a partnership with the Westfield Washington Library to build a new collaborative community space to house both the Library and Township offices.
The new building would be located at the southwest corner of Park and Poplar streets, which is adjacent to Westfield Washington Schools, the Monon Trail, and several new proposed housing developments and restaurants.
Carey Tolan
“This is a culmination of seven years of planning,” Township Trustee Danielle Carey Tolan said. “The Library and the Township are very much integrated with programming and community initiatives and this partnership will allow both entities to expand programming, share space, equipment, staff and ultimately provide a more efficient asset to the community.”
The library and the township will break ground on this 55,000 square-foot structure this fall and construction is expected to last 12 to 18 months.
The township’s portion of the structure will be funded through a build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract, which allows the project to be built without an impact to residents’ tax bills. The sale of the current township office and cash reserves will be the main source of funding.
According to Carey Tolan, building a separate structure would not be as cost efficient.
Sollars
“We are thrilled to finally be breaking ground on this amazing community asset,” Library Executive Director Sheryl Sollars said. “This community resource will further enhance government efficiency by constructing both the library portion and the township portion at the same time, allowing all building and site work costs to be spread equally based on the square footage of the two structures.”
The township portion of the project was formally approved Wednesday at the Township Board meeting.