Highland Park, News

City Council signs off on library expansion, but members mourn loss of town’s ‘front lawn’

A 93-year-old building with a storied Highland Park history is ready for its next chapter — despite “significant concerns” from city officials.

A split City Council voted 5-2 on Monday, Jan. 27, to approve the Highland Park Public Library’s plans for a sizable addition to its existing building at the intersection of Laurel and St. Johns avenues.

Councilmembers Annette Lidawer and Andrés Tapia voted in opposition while Anthony Blumberg, Kim Stone, Yumi Ross, Barisa Bruckman and Mayor Nancy Rotering cast their support.

Approved plans from the library call for a 7,850-square-foot addition to the west side of the building. The expansion, according to library officials, will allow for the reconfiguration and renovation of key areas throughout the building.

In a letter to the city detailing the project, Heidi Smith, the library’s executive director, said updates to the building will include the installation of an ADA-accessible elevator, renovations of the second floor space that houses the library and city archives, and the renovation of lower-level space to establish a makerspace.

According to Smith, the addition will allow the library to add a meeting room that seats 175 people and two ADA-accessible restrooms.

The expansion will also provide more space for seating, for play, for programs and reading, and for added activities in the library’s youth services area. Library officials expect about 25 percent more space for youth services than its current layout.

Library officials presented city councilmembers with an early look at the expansion plans in 2024 during a committee of the whole meeting, as previously reported by The Record.

A rendering of an expansion concept for the Highland Park Public Library. | IMAGE SUBMITTED

Joining Smith for that presentation was Carol Wolfe, who at the time was the library board’s vice president. Wolfe, now the president of the board, said in 2024 that the library’s plans for expansion go “back quite a long way.”

According to Wolfe, in 2017, a comprehensive needs assessment study revealed the limitations of the current library while also providing public feedback on potential future improvements.

A few years later, in 2020, the Highland Park Library underwent an interior renovation to address some of the needs identified in the 2017 study.

Updates that year included remodeling the library’s existing spaces to create a youth services storytime and program room, a middle school room, and five additional group meeting rooms. But the library did not add any square footage during the process, Wolfe said.

Although city officials have largely supported the library’s desire to expand, councilmembers and the community have been publicly critical of some aspects of the plan — primarily the significant loss of green space.

Noting that he “deeply appreciates all the work that’s been done” on the library’s expansion plans, Blumberg opened his remarks during the Jan. 27 meeting by saying he’s “had and continues to have some significant concerns.”

Blumberg cited “the loss of green space to the west of the library” as his top concern — one that he said he shares with “large portions of the community.” But, he added that he is thankful library officials thoroughly explored the other alternatives, such as building up or to the east, before determining those were not feasible options.

“Although I don’t particularly like the outcome from aesthetic and historical standpoints, I understand the need for it and I accept that and I appreciate everything that you did within your power to try to address those issues,” he said.

During her remarks, Lidawer opened by saying she cannot move forward without voicing one last time how sad she is that Highland Park will lose what she believes is “its front lawn.”

Lidawer’s opposition was seemingly in part due to her belief that the option to expand to the east was more feasible than suggested.

I do mourn the fact that the Highland Park neighbors are going to lose their front lawn and I think we could have been more thorough.”
Annette Lidawer, Highland Park councilmember

The city had previously purchased two homes to the east of the library as a way to potentially solve expanding the library without losing the green space to the west.

But library officials last year suggested that adding to the east would require a larger and more costly expansion because of the need to relocate library services inside the building.

Lidawer suggested during her comments that perhaps the cost difference between the two options was not as drastic as officials thought.

“I thank you for everything that you’ve done and I think it’s a beautiful plan and it will be great — but I do mourn the fact that the Highland Park neighbors are going to lose their front lawn and I think we could have been more thorough,” Lidawer said.

Tapia argued that the council “missed an opportunity to think about this corner of the city in a much more comprehensive, holistic way.”

Rotering noted that she believed the library “really tried to protect” the green space to the west.

“I recognize and appreciate the hard work that has gone into planning this expansion,” she said. “The amount of community outreach that has gone into this conversation is remarkable and a model, frankly, for other projects. Thank you to all of you for the incredible work that you have done.”

Library representatives last year had estimated an 18-month long project that will likely be completed in phases. The library is planning to remain open and service the community throughout construction, officials said.


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martin carlino
Martin Carlino

Martin Carlino is a co-founder and the senior editor who assigns and edits The Record stories, while also bylining articles every week. Martin is an experienced and award-winning education reporter who was the editor of The Northbrook Tower.

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