Conflict with new high-school plan?

Aylmer’s library options include moving near the pool

The city is proposing spending $46 million on three libraries, one will be a brand-new library in Aylmer, plus expanding the Guy-Sanche Library in Gatineau and completing a new branch in the Plateau. The city has budgeted $21.9 million this year.

Architecture firms are bidding for the design of the new library in the Plateau district. Following the Plateau library, there is expected to be $8.8 million left over for the other two building projects,

As for Aylmer sector, the city administration is recommending the construction of a new Lucy Faris Library, with a $22.5 million price tag.  Aylmer gets a new building, and not an expansion, because the current location in Place des Pionniers is too crowded and the building’s structure will not support more floors of books.

The city is considering Parc Paul Pelletier, the green space next to the public pool, as the location for the new Lucy Faris. However, this site is also slated for a new high school to be built by the Commission scolaire des Portages-de-l’Outaouais.  The city looked at seven sites, and recommended the Pelletier area, apparently without considering alternate uses already on the drawing board.

For the Guy Sanche library in Gatineau, the city is proposing spending $23.5 million to modify its existing location, mainly by adding 4,000m² on two floors.