ROE JAN LIBRARY WILL GROW WITH COMMUNITY
Molly Salisbury
ccSCOOP News
05-21-10 - 8:30 a.m. - The new Roeliff Jansen Library is going to have pizzazz—as well as LEED certification. Just beyond the inside entrance area, there is a domed rotunda that may, if funds are secured, be finished with Venetian plaster. The dome lends a gravitas to the library—and public space—that won’t wear out, and will, in fact, only get better.
The Roeliff Jansen’s Board of Trustees President, Ned Schneier, advocated for the expensive but lovely room. “We argued to the architect [Ken Best] that the building was too pedestrian – no pizzazz. And this (pointing to the dome) is what he came up with.”
LEED certification, a less visible form of gravitas, provides validation that the building was designed and built to save energy and water, reduce CO2 emissions, and demonstrate stewardship of resources.
This stewardship sometimes translates into more expensive or harder to use products. The concrete floor, which covers all 7,500 square feet of the library, was made using fly ash, a waste product generated in the manufacture of cement. Concrete made this way takes longer to dry—three days instead of one. “Remember how wet last spring was?” asked George Lagonia, Jr., whose Spencertown Construction Company has done almost all of the construction. “We waited and waited until we had three clear days coming up so we could lay down this concrete.” |
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Ned Schneier, President of the Roeliff Jansen Community Library Board of Trustees |
Stewardship also translates into where the materials are imported from, and, says Schneier, “Seventy percent or more of the materials are local—local being within a 500-mile radius.” He looked around as we stood outside. “Here—the slate on the outside of the building come from Glanville, NY.”
The library will most likely open in July, says Schneier, after two more fundraisers have been held to raise (or raise consciousness about) the $500,000 needed to open. As builder Lagonia said, shrugging, “The reality is that green costs money.”
Already, 1.19 million has come from many and generous donors. Eleven grants totaling $1,003,500 have been received, and more grant applications are in the works. Schneier admits that a grant writer was one expense the original budget had not included, but that the expense has more than paid for itself.
The idea to build a new library came before the land, but the land jump-started the process. The Roe Jan Library Association bought the nine acres located on Route 22 for just $65,000. Previous owner Weir Stewart retired from dairy farming and sold his 400-acre operation—most of which was purchased by the state for Roeliff Jansen Park. Stewart also donated $200,000 to the library building fund. The children’s room is being named for his late wife, Dolly.
The permeable asphalt entrance road and parking lot installed recently at the new Roe Jan library will be the largest such project in the Capital Region. The library parking lot would surely have been gravel if it weren’t for some stimulus money. The $320,000 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant covers the porous surface parking lot as well as a bioswale and a rain garden.
The grant comes because the library is located on the banks of the Roe Jan Kill, and protecting the watershed from road salt is an increasingly understood necessity. The permeable asphalt will filter salt from the lot as well as from the runoff from Route 22. |
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When I arrived, the brackets for the solar, or photovoltaic, panels were being installed. The panels, which turn sunlight into electricity, are expected to generate 17 kW or, Schneier predicts, will cover about 40 percent of the electricity use.
The huge windows, with gorgeous views of the Taconic range, line the south and most of the west facing walls. They admit enough light to obviate a lot of electrical lighting, and the light system installed will automatically dim as the library grows brighter or vice versa.
“We had a small argument with NYSERDA (New York State Energy and Research Development Authority) over the windows opening. The Roe Jan Library Association won this argument, and the windows will open. This is the country! We need summer breezes.”
Admittedly, it was a sunny day, but the library was bright with no light bulbs in sight. Lagonia noted that “the walls aren’t even white yet. It’ll get brighter.”
The energy-efficient radiant floor heating was installed using three miles of tubing (the three-mile figure includes additional plumbing and electrical wiring) laid down before the concrete was poured. The tubes circulate warm water, and the heat will radiate up through the floor. The anticipated geothermal heating/cooling system is on hold until the money for it ($140,000) is found, and the water with be pumped and heated through conventional means until then.
The building has also been built with expansion in mind. There are extra accessible outlets than can be tapped if, for instance, more computers are installed. Most exciting, and perhaps most elusive, is an idea for an outdoor amphitheater facing the river—again, the potential to wire such a venture has been planned and provided for.
Last but not least, there’s also going to be more space for books! For over a decade, the library has had to get rid of an old book for every new one that comes in—and that isn’t going to have to be the case anymore. As Schneier explained, that doesn’t mean the library will keep everything either. The old Sidney Sheldons, for example, will still go, but at least the discards can be more selective.
Did I mention there is going to be outdoor seating with Wi-Fi available? And that they’re going to sell coffee? I predict the new Roe Jan library is going to be the new cool hangout for anyone anywhere near Hillsdale who’s been dying for a coffee shop or longing for pizzazz.
Upcoming Fundraisers:
SUNDAY, JUNE 13, 7:30 A.M.
Roe Jan Library Benefit Golf Tournament
Tee-off Times: 7:30 am and Noon
Undermountain Golf Course, Copake
Call the course at 329-4444 for information.
SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 5:30 to 7:30 P.M.
Celebrate the Unadorned Library
The New Roeliff Jansen Community Library
See the Roe Jan Community Library and community space for yourself.
Drink wine and munch hors d’oeuvres from local restaurants, listen (and dance!) to the great sounds of the George Mandel Jazz Quartet, and enjoy Alan Chartock, celebrity emcee and auctioneer, as he puts some very exciting items on the block in a live auction. Help finish and adorn the library!
$100 for individuals; $175 for couples. For tickets and information, call 329-0182.
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