DAN CEARNS The Standard
UXBRIDGE: The Township of Uxbridge is going to look for more information, before they make any decision on what to do with the Zephyr Library.
A report from Amanda Ferraro, the Township’s Director of Community Services explained, the Uxbridge Public Library Board has been looking at ways to improve services in Zephyr,. [This includes:] releasing a survey in the summer, “to ask the community, if amalgamating the Zephyr Library and the Zephyr Community Hall would be an option.” The survey saw 146 people respond. The report was seen by council, at a meeting on Monday, October 7th.
“Of the 146 respondents, 42 percent said, they were satisfied with the current state of the Zephyr library. Thirty-six percent stated, they visit the Zephyr library on a monthly or weekly basis, but a matching number stated, they rarely/never visit the Zephyr library. However, when asked if the Zephyr library would benefit from additional space, for, either pre-school, youth or adult programs, the responses were mostly positive, with most answers being either ‘strongly agree,’ ‘agree’ or ‘neutral’,” the report stated. “Integration of the Zephyr Library with the Zephyr Community Hall was not received well, with 71 percent wanting to keep the library at its current location and make improvements to the current building. Thirty-three percent stated, they would strongly oppose the integration. The main reason being, they did not want the library space to interfere with the Zephyr Hall space, making it smaller. However, 63 percent said, they would support the facility integration if the library had no impact on the existing main hallspace. Additionally, 60 percent selected ‘very important,’ when asked how valuable a community hub is for residents.”
The report recommended staff be directed to “investigate the cost of retaining an architect, to investigate the potential budget of an addition to the Zephyr Library and/or the Zephyr Hall.” It also recommended to have the “cost to retain the architect be referred to the 2025/2026 Budget deliberations.” However, councillors felt it was too early in the process to go down this route.
“I think there’s probably a little more information which would be helpful for [the] committee to consider, moving forward,” Ward 4 Councillor, Willie Popp stated.
Mayor Dave Barton agreed, calling a motion to ask for more information on “the right direction.”
“My concern with hiring the architect is, we could spend $100,000 on design without a long term budget plan on what we can do with that. It just feels too early,” he added.
Ward 3 Councillor, Zed Pickering said, he was proud of the level of community consultation which has been done, in regards to this issue.
Councillors later voted to receive the report and refer it back to township staff, to provide council with more information.
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