We want your input! Designers are beginning the process for a new civic building in South Burlington – to house the City Hall and Library. The first set of workshops will be held at City Hall in the Green Mountain Room.
These workshops will provide two opportunities to learn about and discuss ideas for this important City Center project. Residents, business owners, and other interested parties are encouraged to attend one of the workshops and discover how libraries and city halls can transform the ways we learn, play, and work as a community.
Outreach will be led by Dennis Humphries, of Humphries Poli Architects, a library designer with national expertise in the creation of 21st-century public libraries. He understands the challenges of smaller city government and the opportunities of technology and creative spaces. The overall project is led by Wiemann Lamphere Architects of Colchester, who recently completed the design of the new VPR headquarters.
The City secured an option on land on Market Street (just east of Allard Square and south of the Rick Marcotte Central School) last fall, clearing the way to initiate the process to bring a firm under contract for design services.
Thirty percent of the library and ten-percent of the City Hall project costs are eligible for Tax Increment Financing. The City has also established an annual contribution to reserve funds to finance this project. Residents will be asked to vote on funding for this project in November 2018. A positive vote to fund the project will clear the way to construct in 2019, with the civic center opening in 2020.