The Orange County Board of Commissioners and the Carrboro Board of Aldermen each met on Tuesday – and both boards unanimously approved Development Agreements for a southern branch library in Carrboro.

The library will be located at 203 S. Greensboro St. next to Open Eye Cafe. (There’s currently an 88-space parking lot on the site, owned by the town.)

The new building would also be home to administrative office spaces for the Town.

The library is a $15 million project. Orange County Director of Asset Management Services Jeff Thompson says expenses for the 65,000-square-foot building (and possible on-site parking deck) will be divided between Orange County and the Town of Carrboro.

“There is a series of shared or proportional costs: we’re sharing site costs equally, we’re sharing things that are geometrically the same like the foundation in the roof plans equally, and other components like the elevator column for instance, things like that within the building will be shared equally,” said Thompson. “Outside of that, other than the up-fit costs, the things that are inside the space and the library, and the spaces of other dedicated spaces belonging to Carrboro – that would be shared proportionately.”

The Orange County Board previously appropriated about $1.2 million for the project. County commissioners estimate the site will cost them an additional $ 6,375,000 by 2020.

Carrboro has also appropriated adequate funds for the remainder of the estimated costs.

During the Orange County Board discussion about the library, County Manager Bonnie Hammersley addressed concerns about on-site parking.

“There will still be on-site parking available for library patrons, and I can say the town of Carrboro was very supportive of that and understood that. But I can also tell you, at this time, where the parking [deck] is going to be has not been decided,” said Hammersley.

Parking for library patrons will be free, and those spaces would be available to all residents after library hours.

At the Carrboro Board of Aldermen meeting, Town Assistant Attorney Robert Hornik said he estimates 55 or 60 parking spaces will be available on site – but that no exact numbers have been decided.

“We’ve tried to make it as flexible as we can and still have it be definite enough,” said Hornik.

According to Thompson, the Town and the County will begin designer evaluation and recommendations for the selection of the designer of the library in the next few weeks.

Construction is expected to begin by September 2018 with the library opening in the Fall of 2019.

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