REPLAY LIVE COVERAGE: Library board makes recommendation

The board of the Cedar Rapids Public Library will decide today which site it prefers for a new library.

Adam Belz will provide live coverage of the meeting beginning at 4 p.m. at the Westdale Mall branch of the library to choose among the Emerald Knights, The Gazette/KCRG-TV9 and the TrueNorth blocks as the site of a post-flood library. Their recommendation will go to the Cedar Rapids City Council, which expects to make a decision Feb. 24.

Owners of the three sites have submitted asking prices to city officials, including the cost of their properties and the cost of relocating their businesses.

“We'll get a total cost for each site,” said Susan Corrigan, library board president. “We promised the sellers we would not release their information until the board meeting.”

The main library at 500 First St. SE was devastated in the flood of 2008. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has decided it won't help pay for a new library at the same site.

As the library board moves to build a new facility either on Greene Square Park or a couple blocks further east, it plans to sell the old site.

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• ANALYSIS: The Emerald Knights library site
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• ANALYSIS: The TrueNorth library site
• Engineer faults Gazette ramp, could impact library site decision
• VIDEO: First Avenue East thoughts on where the new library should go