The Onondaga County Central Library is one step closer to moving to street level.

The Onondaga County Legislature approved a resolution on Monday to move the central library to the street level at the Galleries of Syracuse. The Ways and Means Committee proposed the plan for the Onondaga County Central Library on Oct. 27. The library is currently located on three floors in the Galleries of Syracuse, said David Knapp, the representative for the 12th district in the Onondaga County Legislature. Knapp is also the chair of the Ways and Means Committee.

“A few years ago, the central New York library said they’d really like to consolidate to two floors, the first and second,” Knapp said. “They wanted to operate with less staff and make the library more accessible on the street level.”

The library received a grant from New York state, as well as money authorized from the county legislature to fund the estimated $5 million project, Knapp said.

The library has had trouble moving in the past because of the empty space that would be left on the upper floors if they moved. The landlord of the Galleries of Syracuse prohibited the library from moving unless tenants were found to occupy the empty space. For the past 18 months, the library has been looking for tenants to sublease those floors so the library could consolidate to the two lower floors, Knapp said.

The current plan would require the IT department at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University to move into the upper floors of the Galleries of Syracuse, allowing the library to move into the lower levels. Approximately 200 employees will be moved from SUNY Upstate into the Galleries, he said.

Upstate would pay $11.40 per square foot, or $684,000 a year for the 60,000 square feet, according to an Oct. 27 Syracuse.com article.

Kim Branagan, the assistant to the chief information officer at SUNY Upstate Medical University, said that she has no problem with working downtown if she were to be moved.

“One hundred ninety people, which isn’t the entire information management and technology department, could move to the Galleries of Syracuse downtown,” Branagan said.

Branagan added that she also thinks the plan will give Onondaga County’s central library more visibility.

The landlord still has to approve the changes and renovations will begin as soon as all the signatures are secured. The library will conduct renovations floor by floor, so it will still remain open throughout the entire process, David Knapp, chair of the Ways and Means Committee, said.

“The library is a bit out of sight, out of mind right now, but with this resolution it can be on street level with a sign that will be much more visible to the community,” Knapp said.

The street level entrance will also allow citizens to directly enter the library instead of going up into the Galleries of Syracuse first. The entrance will also benefit patrons more than the library themselves and will decrease foot traffic in the Galleries.

“We spend a lot of money on our libraries and we want them to get used,” said Knapp. “Increasing visibility will benefit the community.”

Published on November 5, 2014 at 12:01 am