Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff
You have to wonder why it was necessary. And you have to applaud Jane Howington for seeing that it was.
But everyone who left a meeting on redesigning the exterior of Augusta's new downtown library Wednesday felt confident the design could be tweaked without derailing its ambitious timeline, which includes an August groundbreaking.
The building's design has drawn extensive criticism throughout the community, and even was initially rejected by the Historic Preservation Commission. After mediation, the commission signed off on the design, but is still lukewarm toward it.
The project could have gone on regardless of the criticism, but to her undying credit, Howington, the East Central Georgia Regional Library Board chairwoman, brought together the project's skeptics and critics and architects for a meeting of the minds Wednesday at the current library.
After all was said and done, the parties agreed to go back to the drawing board and change the look of the proposed building's entrance at Telfair and James Brown Boulevard (Ninth Street), as well as the side facing Greene Street, which some folks are concerned looks too much like the back of a building on a main thoroughfare.
Despite the agreement to tweak the facade, we continue to believe it should be scrapped completely and given an entirely new look -- one befitting a city with such a proud past and a classical feel.
Indeed, Mark Lorah, chairman of the Richmond County Historic Preservation Commission, admitted at the meeting Wednesday that he, too, wanted the entire facade redesigned. He deemed the current design "acceptable." You could almost see the bad taste in his mouth when he said it.
Why in the world is "acceptable" good enough?
Library officials say they must forge ahead on schedule, or risk losing a $2 million state grant. But they also admitted to not having explored whether the grant's deadline could be extended.
Regardless, time constraints can be changed, and are no excuse for getting it wrong. And this design is wrong.
You also have to wonder why Howington's deft diplomacy at the last minute was necessary. She rightly notes that the project has been around for five years.
It's obvious that key stakeholders in the community have not been brought along -- as evidenced by remarks at the meeting. Augusta Tomorrow Chairman Robert Osborne and Historic Augusta Executive Director Erik Montgomery both said the building's design had been news to them until recently.
By then, Montgomery said, it seemed to be a "done deal."
Montgomery brought with him a packet of downtown design guidelines he thought the architects should see. They readily agreed.
The library shouldn't have to be playing catch-up with key community stakeholders such as Augusta Tomorrow and Historic Augusta. The design should never have surprised them thusly; Mr. Osborne said his first look at the design was in the newspaper.
One of the first things you do in a big public project of this type is to identify key stakeholders in the community -- those who will invest money, time or just emotion in the project -- and keep them in the loop every step of the way.
Surely the Greenville, S.C., architects on the project had learned this after working on some 50 libraries around the region. Indeed, at the meeting on Wednesday, they even recounted public consternation about library designs in Greenville and Florence, S.C.
Admittedly, no design will please everyone, but the architects' vast experience should have led them to caution Augusta's library board on heading off just this kind of 11th-hour conundrum.
They apparently did not, and as a result, those who pine for a more classic look to the library may not get it.
Unless we stick to our guns.
We implore Chairman Lorah and his fellow historic preservationists, as well as the visionary leaders of Augusta Tomorrow, to not settle for "acceptable." Let's get the kind of exemplary, enviable library we want and deserve.
We don't need to scrap the entire design -- just the facade.
If we have to delay things a bit, so be it.
