POCOMOKE – As the library awaits news regarding capital grant funding, board members this week got a first look at some of the proposed design elements for a new Pocomoke branch.
On Tuesday, Worcester County Library Director Jennifer Ranck presented the library’s board of directors with an update on plans to construct a new library branch in downtown Pocomoke.
While the library has applied for the state’s fiscal year 2024 capital grant program to assist with construction costs, Ranck said officials are moving forward with design as they await award announcements.
“We did receive a few questions back from the Department of Budget Management about the application …,” she told board members this week. “Questions are good because it means they read the grant. But I won’t know anything until the governor releases his budget.”
In 2020, county officials began moving forward with plans for a new library in Pocomoke after selecting a building scheme for a shared facility on a vacant lot offered by the City of Pocomoke.
The proposed site was expected to not only house the library, but a senior center as well.
But in October of that year, Ranck announced the library’s decision to forego the construction of a new branch on the downtown parcel after receiving the results of a phase two environmental study, which identified several underground storage tanks on the site.
Despite the setback, Pocomoke’s city manager came before the Worcester County Commissioners last year with a proposal to seek state grant funding for the demolition of the long-vacant armory building on 2nd Street. The goal, he noted, was to build a new Pocomoke library branch in its place.
While it was ultimately learned the proposed demolition project was not among the list of grant award recipients, Ranck told board members earlier this year the municipality had plans to reapply.
Notification regarding the next round of demolition grants is set to be announced in November.
In the meantime, Ranck said she has decided to apply for a state grant to fund the library’s eventual construction at the proposed armory site.
“The state grant is only $7.5 million, and we’re grateful because it leverages a lot of money around the state,” she said in May. “But it is a small pot of money when you are talking about large construction projects.”
In this week’s board meeting, she added the library was also working with architect Jeff Schoellkopf on a facility design.
“The county commissioners did approve the library’s request to move forward with design,” she said. “So we’ve been working with Jeff Schoellkopf, who did the Berlin branch … They are all pretty preliminary.”
Ranck noted that she and Schoellkopf are drafting potential designs for a one-story building that include meeting spaces, study rooms, a treehouse, which would house children’s programming.
“We were thinking maybe some sort of treehouse that sticks out from the side of the building …,” she said. “It gives the building something special that speaks to the Pocomoke Forest or the history of Pocomoke.”
Ranck also told board members the library would also work with Whiting-Turner Contracting Company on cost estimating and constructability review.
“We have one square block and we’re making this fit with some parking,” she said. “We’re trying to get everything on one story … All things on one floor makes it a little bit easier to manage.”
