----   Replacement library for Aylmer

 

Five years to demolish and replace the Lucy Faris library -- from what date? Has the discussion been five years already, or has it been 10 years with costs escalating every year? What is the timeline? Displacement costs? $50,000,000, $75,000,000 or more?

Gatineau's Chief Librarian and the Director of the Aylmer Service Centre were offered one acre 3-4 years ago for $1, near Provigo on Ch d'Aylmer by me. The proposal was considered, but the City has decided to demolish and build on its much smaller site.

If Place de Pioneers was owned privately, it would have been refreshed and its structural problems corrected years ago. This has been discarded based on questionable "engineering assessments".  Really, the building can't be fixed? Why hasn't it collapsed?  Retrofitting the existing building is possible. Housing the library entirely on the 1st floor is possible. Why not?

Five years to demolish and rebuild is nonsense. The impact on Aylmer's core will be devastating to nearby businesses. Can't the Chief Librarian and the city's Director General, with their staffs, re-think the consequences of their actions on Aylmer?

Malcolm Thorne 

Aylmer