City to find parking for Wisconsin Dells library

Link to June 12 Wisconsin Dells Events article.

Excerpt: Gisela Hamm, a member of the library board, said the board was trying to avoid people coming in on Elm Street and wanted to encourage people to come in off Cedar Street. The original plan would have been perfect, she said, and the block would still have adequate green space. She said the Cedar Street side would be safer for parents with small children and and would avoid parents and families having to traipse through the entire library to get to the children's section.

Hamm also said the board spent a lot of time planning the building and it put things into the plan that the community asked for. One of those was for more parking and better parking. She said she never thought in her wildest immagination that the commission and council would object to the parking.

"I can't understand why the library board does not see we not going to allow parking in that green space," Alderperson Dan Gavinski said. "It's not going to happen."

Arndt repeated said the design does not depend on Cedar Street side of the library becoming the main entrance and that the children's library entrance has always been an auxiliary entrance.
The parking plan was on the commission's agenda as discussion only and Helland concluded the discussion by saying that his feeling is the commission is fine with going ahead with the site plan for the building except for the parking. The parking is not a critical concern, he said. "We can find parking for you."

Before the discussion ended, Commissioner Mike Freel said in talking with local residents, they are questioning why the library addition is being built. The library is the newest municipal building in the city and some people do not see a need for the expansion, he said. He said the city's fire department and police department were built in the 1920s and the city did not have funds to build new ones.

Related articles:
Board decides on parking plan.  (5/20/2010)
Dells plan commission to library board: parking plan, please. (5/10/2010)
Library expansion project includes parking lot.  (4/12/2010)
Library board reviews expansion plans.  (1/30/2010)