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Minutes 09-20-17MINUTES OF SPECIAL LIBRARY WORKSHOP MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2017, AT 6:00 P.M. AT THE BOYNTON BEACH CITY LIBRARY, PROGRAM ROOM 208 S. SEACREST BOULEVARD, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT: Deborah Hoban, Chair Chris Montague Dr. Stephanie Hayden-Adeyemo Chris Simon ABSENT: John Welter Alice Warren Tracy Tebo Robyn Boucard, Alt Call to Order Craig Clark, Library Director Anne Watts, Assistant Library Director Jeannie Taylor, Division Head Librarian Chair Hoban called the Workshop to order at 6:10 p.m. Introductions and Presentation by Colin Groff, Assistant City Manager Mr. Groff, Assistant City Manager explained they would review the Town Square project and then have introductions by the Library Architect. The following individuals were present: • Alex Cohen, Library Consultant, • Craig Clark, Library Director • Carmen Haigler, Programmer, Aaron Cohen Associates • Mark Hefferin, E21 - • 2L• Deborah Hoban, Chair, Library Advisory Board member • Chris Montague, Library Advisory Board member • Chris Simon, Library Advisory Board member • Dr. Stephanie Hayden-Adeyemo, Library Advisory Board member Mr. Groff asked if everyone was aware of the Town Square Project and learned attendees were. He advised City Hall, the Police Department and the West Wing have deteriorated and the Civic Center is old. The Art Center is too small and the Library and the south part of the Library was old as is the Old High School. For over 20 years, the City has discussed what they would do with the area and about two years ago, the City decided to develop a Meeting Minutes Special Library Advisory Board Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida September 20, 2017 private/public partnership to build out the 16.5 -acre site known as the Town Square Project. The City issued an RFP and received four proposals. When ranked, E21- was selected. The team is comprised of 20 different companies and each company plays a different part of the development. The plan calls to build a new City Hall, Police Department building at the High Ridge location, a new Fire Station No. 1 and will rehab the Old High School for civic uses. A private developer will develop the remaining land. Mr. Groff noted the new City buildings would be paid for through the taxes generated from the private building constructed by the developer, thereby creating a revenue neutral project. It leverages property and future development to pay for the new infrastructure the City needs. The Town Square will be the epicenter of Boynton Beach. There will be activities at the Town Square every weekend, during the day and night. There will be stores and restaurants and citizens can interact with government when paying a bill. One project is City Hall, which will be a combined building. The architect and design builder is Haskell, and Baker Barios is the architect. Cohen & Associates is a world renowned library architect. Meeting Introduction Alex Cohen, A. Cohen Associates, Library Architect The south end of the library is 50 years old and has plumbing and electrical issues. Staff contemplated having an old building in the middle of a new development. The Library building also blocks traffic circulation on SE 1St Avenue entering onto Seacrest, which forces traffic onto SE 2nd, which is a residential road. Mr. Groff explained the newer part of the Library is fine and is 10 years old, but the building does require work. Staff considered the value of the existing structure compared to building a new structure and decided it was more efficient to build new buildings that will last for 60 to 70 years. The City will demolish all the structures on the 16.5 acres except for the Old High School and the Schoolhouse Children's Museum and the Old High School will be restored to its former condition. The timeline for the project reflected the development was in plan review. A final draft will be presented to the City Commission in October and they will review all the documents in November. If approved, the project will enter the design and construction phase. Work on the Old High School already started and the rest of the project will start in March. It was anticipated the building will be occupied in 18 months. Traffic will open onto SE 1St and the City was planning on adding about 2,000 parking spaces. Currently there is only about 400 parking spaces. Since the Town Square will be a hub, there will be two parking garages. Staff wanted to create a large green space for activities and events and planned to include open areas, the amphitheater, a play area, passive and active areas and wanted a 21St century building design to meet the City's needs. In the last 10 years, technology changed the way people live, work and play. The City wants to have buildings that adapt. The conceptual site plan included a hotel, and Michael Weiner, who owns the post office and smaller offices will redevelop the buildings and offices to match the design of the 2 Meeting Minutes Special Library Advisory Board Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida September 20, 2017 hotel and new entryway. Also included was two parking garages, residential units, the Old High School, the Kids Kingdom playground, amphitheater, the Library/City Hall and Old High School with a gateway. A question was posed about the Police Department leaving the downtown area. Mr. Groff explained the Police work out of zones and substations. The officers do not work out of the police station. Chair Hoban asked about new residential revenues funding the Town Square project and if there was a time limit on the payback for the City buildings. Mr. Groff explained the developer pays the taxes whether the building is occupied or not and the plan included a payback period for 25 years. The only other way to fund the project is by issuing a bond, which would raise taxes. He explained the City set up their financial model and did not want to cut programs Mr. Simon asked about increasing the parking to 1,500 to 2,000 spaces, which included the parking area for the newly constructed Fire Station. He inquired how many residential units were planned, if the spaces were specified per unit and if the hotel would use spaces in the parking garages or if they would have its own parking. Mr. Groff explained the City will lease back to residential occupants 1.6 spaces per unit. it was anticipated there would be around 700 units, or 1,000 parking spaces. The hotel will have valet parking and the City will add 250 to 400 spaces. Parking garage models are based on how people use garages. The models control how traffic goes in and out. He commented some parking garages are half empty. Garages can have reserved spots and use technology. They can have flex space, which differs with the time of day and the City is working on the traffic model. Mr. Hefferin confirmed the Code requires 1.6 parking spaces for each residential unit and those spaces can be available for other events. A study will reflect about 2,000 spaces are needed. He noted the City included the Library at its maximum capacity, which would use 250 spaces in its study. When there is an event, there may be another 600 spaces available. Mr. Hefferin was trying to convince the City to build the spaces and advised it may never satisfy the total parking that may be needed during events, but it will be four or five times the current parking. Mr. Simon was concerned the parking would be used by City employees, hotel guests and workers and residents. Mr. Groff pointed out other projects will also include parking. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo asked if the City Hall and the Library had to be combined and learned in order to maximize green space, the City had to build vertically. The City is using a new model to combine civic functions and the Library is an integral piece. Patrons come for books and information. There is a lot of commonality with a Library and a City Hall. The building brings people together as opposed to apart. It is more efficient to build and it avoids having to drive all over to pay a bill. Mr. Cohen explained the Library is also a meeting space. He finished a project in Massachusetts that had a shared council chambers which was empty most of the time. He advised flexible furniture could be used and there are advantages to using the resources. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo explained some of the Library Board members attended a City Commission meeting and hoped the times could be extended and or the days of 3 Meeting Minutes Special Library Advisory Board Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida September 20, 2017 the week the Library is open in the future. Mr. Groff explained when the project is done, the Library has to be open seven days a week and will be staffed. The public will want to come to the Library and when they want to come to an area, they will spend money. The project will generate more funds. Mr. Groff's goal is to have all of the flexible space used all the time. The public spaces are on the outside of the building. There is a covered outdoor area for activities overlooking the park, which is called a living edge as it creates spaces people can live in. There will be an entrance from the high school area and one from the parking garage. The living edge is two -stories tall and is a large indoor lobby for programmable activities. There will be a niche restaurant with good food and maybe beer and wine for after hours. There are grand staircases going to the second floor. The ground floor has is for public records, customer service and permits. There are conference rooms for meeting space and City staff will interact with the public. There will be a maker's space for technology businesses or incubators and a large community room that could be partitioned. All the rooms have outside access. When City Hall is closed, the City Hall area is closed, but the rest of the building is active. They will build Chambers on the ground floor near the garage as a large multi-purpose room. The dais will descend from the ceiling. There is a lobby and restroom, an audio/video room and a large program room. The Library area for youth 11 and younger will be near the Chambers, garage and bookstore. There will be a secure kid's zone for youth. Mr. Simon noted the plans had already changed since he viewed them last and there were more pluses with the new first floor plan, but there is a drastic reduction to the first floor library area. In meetings, the Library Advisory Board discussed it could be larger and now the square footage was reduced. He also asked if the seating capacity in the Chamber was reduced and learned it was about the same size. Mr. Groff explained screens will be outside Chambers allowing people to sit outside and view the meeting with a glass of wine. If there is a big meeting, the gym in the Old High School can be used and can accommodate 600 people. At City Commission meetings, there are also 22 staff members present. Mr. Cohen explained they are interested in receiving input. The initial concept is putting families and children first. The lobby/atrium area, if it was just a City Hall, would be an empty lobby space. They will activate WiFi and there will be books and areas to browse. It will reflect a learning space, and not be a wasted City Hall. Another component is the community meeting room. Although the room is on the other side of the building, the City wants to have a meeting room open when the Library is closed. Staff needs to work on the concept of where everything flows and take advantage of as much City Hall spaces to maximize uses. It is open and available. One concept administration liked was for the teenagers to be engaged and have a place to go. They could create a supervised and secure teen center with homework help. Staff was contemplating using the first floor of the garage as the teen center, which would be a separate building near the park. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo commented the bulk of people she sees at the Library are teens. Teens do many technological things. The teen center would be its own island and part 4 Meeting Minutes Special Library Advisory Board Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida September 20, 2017 of a living learning campus with green space. Mr. Cohen explained there could be solar power poles and solar chairs to plug in providing for patrons to sit in the shade. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo did not want the garage to look like a garage. It was noted the teen center would be a self-monitoring space. There would be activities ongoing which makes it more difficult for teens to do the wrong things. They could connect the center to the Library and have art integrated into the building. Mr. Montague noted the site plan for City Hall and the Library was cut in half. He did not see how it would reduce traffic and thought the addition in the parking garage was an afterthought. Mr. Groff explained they reduced sprawl by building up. The original plan always had active space. They sought to put residential units facing other residential units. By cutting back, it allows more units to be built and taxed, helping the tax base. The Library is about 50,000 square feet, excluding the community room, but the building will be used efficiently. The Library currently only uses 35,000 square feet. The second floor details have not yet been determined. The first floor is family oriented and interactive. The quiet zone is on the second floor and the adult area includes reference materials and archives, study areas and has Wifi access. There will be individual study rooms and a periodical area. Mr. Cohen was reviewing how to create better interactions with books and the storage areas. He complimented the Library on its archives and its own local history. He sought to build room for growth and was interested in learning what drives the Library from the Board's perspective. The plans are not etched in stone, but he thought it was an effective strategy to use and it has been used in other communities. The teen center could be somewhere else or the space be a historical center instead of a teen center. He explained it was good to be critical of the plan so they can cover the Library's needs. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo favored championing a teen center somewhere separately from the main library, as a Youth Empowerment Center was needed and it readies youth for the real world. A teen center allows youth to create noise. Mr. Cohen also explained the space could also be used for social services and teens can use the second floor for tutoring. Chair Hoban explained the Library has a robust tutoring program for youth and queried where it would go. Mr. Groff explained they were contemplating placing it by the Chamber entrance, but Mr. Cohen would determine its actual location. The Library will have two elevators and two stairways to the second floor. The third and fourth floor plans were viewed, but were not discussed and the members viewed images of the new Library design, which was Contemporary/Mediterranean. The members also viewed a conceptual plan for the Old High School. The first floor will have retail spaces for dance, art, karate and more. The second floor will seat 600 people for weddings and fits 270 tables. The Old High School is an extension of the campus. Mr. Groff emphasized they were trying to activate downtown programs. Meeting Minutes Special Library Advisory Board Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida September 20, 2017 Discussion Points — Alex Cohen, A. Cohen Associates, Library Architect. Mr. Cohen explained he could conduct a visualization exercise. He presented concepts for the collection, seating and staff areas from different libraries and explained with space needs, there are three significant elements to any library design, which are the collection, seating and staff areas. They reviewed the numbers based on the existing library and broke them down to the three main areas. They have to conduct the same analysis to ensure there is an apples -to -apples approach. There are five modes of learning they break each seating space into, which is a touch point, which is the circulation or reference desk or a video screen to touch on. It could also be a hologram. The second mode is reflective space which is the quiet space. It is golden in the library world and Mr. Cohen sought to have more of it. For the third mode, if comparing the 20th Century library to the 21St Century, there is increase in collaborative spaces, which are small group spaces to accommodate book clubs, quilting or yoga classes, or for lectures, mini -courses or speakers. The fifth mode is the presentation spaces for scholarly events or plays. Another element that is in 21St century is social space, which was the cafe. It may not be just a cafe. It is a place where people can talk and meet. It is important for mature adults to have a place to sit and talk and read the newspaper and be part of the community. It is also nice to mix the very old with youth and having periodical spaces. Having children walking by can be a positive influence. There are challenges with security and a balance is needed. They have to address the staff spaces. Mr. Cohen analyzed how the Library is currently used and learned the staff spaces are not as efficient as they could be. It is also difficult to operate staff efficiently when staff spaces are spread out. One way to assist library staff to work together is to put them together. The circulation area was reviewed. He explained putting spaces next to each other correctly is important. When patrons enter the Library, they will see the check-out area and then a quiet space. Mr. Cohen advised they will consider noise factors. The members viewed the Children's Discovery Center in Dubai to engage children. It was noted many people frequent the Boynton Beach Library instead of the Delray Library, but the problem is the story time room in Boynton Beach is really open space. Mr. Cohen explained preserving cultural heritage is another concept and he advised the Boynton Beach Library has impressive preservation and cultural spaces. Spreading knowledge can be an area to collaborate physically and virtually. Encouraging reading is important and it is key to ensure the ebooks or digital books are used. Having a touch point can encourage reading. Mr. Cohen explained when they design libraries, they try to separate collections into physical and virtual books. Similar to an onion, the middle part is the high use materials. They will then have priority learning and research materials, which are materials staff may 2 Meeting Minutes Special Library Advisory Board Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida September 20, 2017 display, such as having holiday books during the holidays. Foundation learning research materials involves Boynton Beach and local colleges, and how they work with the collections. The research is extending learning and research materials, which includes the consortiums and other shared libraries. There is also a global information commons, which provides access to the internet and the hardwiring to access Wifi. Mr. Cohen will review the social, presentation, reflective spaces and the touch points, which involves how to interact with the Library staff, physically or virtually. They can interact through social media and at the circulation desk. The library commons, with touch screens could have higher seating, so patrons can chat and get on Wifi and have tooth- like diner seating. It also accommodates cellphone use or touch points for check out stations if there is a tag in the book which would make self-service possible as well as video personal touch. Social spaces are fun spaces to meet and greet as well as having collaborative space. There will be flexible spaces to create group study spaces and the living edge along the wall. Library commons is library seating along the wall. There could also be lounge seating. The design could be futuristic or traditional. Images of the different areas of the library were viewed. Mr. Montague commented he was pleased with the presentation as Mr. Cohen included many of the items the Library Advisory Board had requested which included more space to expand collections, open spaces, and phone charging chairs. He passed the list to the Mr. Cohen. Mr. Groff reviewed the meeting spaces in the Town Square and in the Police Department. A characterization exercise commenced at 7:33 p.m. Public Audience (Individual Speakers Will Be Limited to 3 Minute Presentations) There were no comments made. Adjournment The workshop was closed at 8:08 p.m. 64UU114-L &I Catherine Cherry Minutes Specialist FA