The Wauwatosa Common Council is expected on July 28 to review the four proposed options for upgrades to the city's civic center complex and potentially pick one.
The Wauwatosa Library Board has already made up its mind: It wants a new building.
The board voted July 15 to send a letter to the Common Council advocating in favor of either of the two options that would entail construction of a new library on the city's prominent corner property at North and Wauwatosa avenues. Under one of those proposals, Option 3, the city would build the new library on the footprint of the existing City Hall and move the city offices into the old library. Option 4 would build both a new library and a new City Hall on the property.
"The library board supports building concept options three and four because they provide the best opportunity to create a purpose-built library that can effectively and efficiently serve the community for decades to come," the board said in its letter.
Those two options also are the most expensive, estimated at $95.7 million and $107.2 million, respectively. The library board's support carries some financial weight, since the board would be expected to coordinate with the Wauwatosa Public Library Foundation on a campaign to raise millions of dollars in private donations to partially offset the cost of the project, which otherwise would be funded through property taxes and grants.