Harvard’s old library continues to haunt the town. While Town Hall and Hildreth House have each been made accessible and code-compliant in recent years, the imposing red stone Victorian structure in town center has limped into the 21st century with the barest of repairs. In the words of Selectman Ken Swanton, it’s a “wounded building.”
The Old Library Accessibility Committee has labored over the past 18 months to find an economical way to make the building accessible for present and future occupants. The committee’s negotiations with the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board resulted in a three-year waiver and made possible the rental of the building by Harvard Cultural Collaborative. The collaborative’s occupancy has in turn allowed the town to apply for a facility improvement grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Fund. Combined with its careful design work, the committee lowered the total estimated cost of the project from its original $1 million estimate to less than half that amount.
Article 7 on the Nov. 6 Special Town Meeting warrant asks voters to approve spending up to $383,000 to make the old library accessible. The Finance Committee has recommended not to fund the project (see article), but the selectmen have endorsed the funding and the Capital Planning and Investment Committee has voted to proceed.
Now it’s up to Town Meeting. This is the first of several major capital projects voters will be asked to consider over the next few years, and the Finance Committee is understandably concerned about juggling those costs. But the town has a legal and moral responsibility to make that building accessible to all users, no matter who its tenants are now or in the future. We urge voters to support Article 7 and get the job done.
