We would like to note that the Library Board was offered space at the new Municipal Complex (Old Keystone High School), but rejected the offer.  The Village would like to centralize as many services in a central location as possible!
LOCAL NEWS

Location found for Keystone-LaGrange library branch

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    The new Keystone-LaGrange Library will be moved to 133 E. Commerce Drive in LaGrange.

    KRISTIN BAUER / CHRONICLE

     

LAGRANGE — The Keystone-LaGrange Branch of the Elyria Public Library System has found a new location.

Elyria Public Library System Director Lyn Crouse said Friday that the LaGrange Village Board of Zoning Appeals voted unanimously this week to approve the conditional use by the library of the former Firefighters Community Credit Union building at 133 E. Commerce Drive.

The library plans to buy the property using funds from its November 2017 levy, which is expected to generate more than $950,000 per year for the next 30 years. The closing cost of the sale has yet to be worked out, Crouse said.

When completed, Crouse said, the new library will be expanded to nearly 6,000 square feet. Geotechnical and soil boring testing on the site is next, she said.

Crouse said members of the Friends of the Keystone-LaGrange Community Library “submitted a letter of support, and many of them attended the meeting as well.”

Village Zoning Clerk Mary Kay Gates said the Village Planning Commission unanimously recommended at its Oct. 4 meeting to send the library’s request for conditional use of the property to the Board of Zoning Appeals.

The conditional use permit was granted because the property is zoned industrial, Gates said.

“It’s been vacant for a couple years,” she said, “but it met all (the library’s) needs. It has a drive-up window and a safe room. They need to expand, but they have plenty of room there and should fall within all our rules for the expansion.”

The library system serves the Elyria and Keystone school districts. Along with the new Keystone-LaGrange Branch, it has plans to build a new Central Branch in downtown Elyria by the end of 2020, will build a new South Branch on 15th Street in Elyria and renovate the West River Branch, also in the city.

Contact Dave O’Brien at 329-7129 or do’brien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.