Brookfield residents who received letters from the Brookfield Public Library Board expressing interest in buying their properties to make way for a future library expansion protested the suggestion at the board’s Jan. 17 meeting, saying the letters had the same effect as a threat of eminent domain.
The board sent out letters to eight properties owners on Lincoln Avenue and Grand Boulevard last month asking if there was any interest in selling their property to the library or giving the library the right of first refusal, in which the library would purchase the right to match any future offer made on the owner’s property before it is sold.
According to board member Jonathan Platt, the chairman of the board’s Building and Grounds Committee, the purpose of the letter was to gather information for a study of the library that the board will begin in March. The study, led by a professional library space planner hired by the board, is meant to consider all possible options for remodeling of the building, which may include expansion.
Platt explained expansion would be desirable because of the library’s limited space. If the building were simply remodeled, fitting the library’s materials and activities into the building’s current 1,300 square feet would still be a challenge, he said.
“No matter how you cut it, 1,300 square feet is still 1,300 square feet,” he said. “We would still not have room for the computer programs, the special activities for children or the community meeting area that we would like and that we feel the community deserves.”
Platt, along with the rest of the board, did stress, however, that any expansion would be dependent on neighboring property owners’ willingness to sell to the library, and that the board had no intention of forcing any residents from their homes. If the board cannot acquire enough property to make future expansion feasible, that option won’t be considered in the study.
“What we’re doing here is testing the market,” Platt said. “We can’t make any plans until we know who’s interested. We sent out the letters to see what area we could possibly expand into. If people aren’t interested, that pretty much answers that.”
That clarification of the board’s intentions pacified some residents, but others argued that even if the board does not plan to exercise it to take their properties, merely sending the letters raised the specter of eminent domain. By publicly expressing an interest in their properties, they said, the board automatically lowered their property values.
“My house right now is unsellable,” one resident said. “You’ve got a black cloud hanging over us. If people were interested in buying my house, once they find out that a government institution is interested in the property, my property value goes down.”
Residents also questioned the involvement of library board President Margaret Blasage, noting that she lives in one of the eight properties in question, and also sits on the Brookfield Zoning Board of Appeals.
Blasage dismissed the suspicions, however, noting that she recused herself from the vote approving the letters at the board’s Nov. 27 meeting. She also said that she had no intention of selling her home to the library.
That put her with the majority of the 14 residents who attended last week’s meeting, all but one of whom flatly rejected the board’s proposal. That lone resident, Diane Denneny, was one of two property owners whom Library Director Kimberly Litland said expressed interest in eventually selling their property to the library.
“I’m certainly not moving tomorrow, but I have been thinking about making a move eventually,” said Denneny, who lives next to the library on Lincoln Avenue. “When this came in the mail, it seemed like a good possibility.”
Litland said she’s only had cursory talks with both Denneny and the second property owner about selling their properties, and that even if the library were able to acquire those two properties, that would not necessarily result in a library expansion.
Litland said the board would have a clearer idea of what a future remodeling project might entail after the building study, which she estimated could take up to a year to complete.
“We have some ideas of what to expect from the study, but as to the actual contents of a plan, we have a lot of work to do,” she said.