MAITLAND, Fla. — Back in March, Maitland residents approved a bond referendum that would allow the city to build a two-story library. The project will be paid for by city residents through public bond financing.

What You Need To Know

  • Maitland City Council will meet Monday to authorize Maitland’s city manager to execute a contractual agreement with HBM Architects for phase two of the project for over $2 million, according to the city’s agenda.

  • In September 2020, City Council voted unanimously to approve Quinn Strong Park as the preferred site for the new library

  • Now that the referendum has passed, a taxpayer could be paying around $100 to $200 every year depending on home property value to fund the project.

The City of Maitland is taking next steps to build its new library.

Stacie Larson, Maitland’s Public Library director, says she’s excited to know that the city is making progress on the project.

“We’re all very excited," she said. "It's shown a lot of support for the library, having got the referendum, so for us, it’s not so much a referendum about the future library, it’s a referendum about the services we’re already been providing. And that shows that people are very much in love with their library here In Maitland."

Larson says with a budget of about $800,000 for the library, the return on investment is far greater, showing a need of the library’s resources in the community.

“The value we return to the community is over $2 million, and that’s value in materials that we provide that you don’t have to buy. But it’s also value in what you learn coming to our classes and events for kids and adults,” said Larson.

The project is estimated to use about $14 million in taxpayer monies. The idea to build a new library has been in talks for years. In September 2020, City Council voted unanimously to approve Quinn Strong Park as the preferred site for the new library.

City staff say the need for the library is simple.

“Our biggest needs is simply space. We have a lot of demand on the spaces here in the building, some of them are physical materials. In order for us to add new books to the collection, we have to take books out of the collection. we just don’t have enough room even for the book collections to grow,” said Larson.

With the approval from the public, the city is now in the architectural design of the project. City Council will meet Monday to authorize Maitland’s city manager to execute a contractual agreement with HBM Architects for phase two of the project for over $2 million, according to the city’s agenda.

“They’ve already planned in even in the most conceputal level things like craft spaces, maker spaces, meeting rooms but also small study spaces where we could have a business incubator, tutors or study groups come meet. So they are really paying attention to those needs,” said Larson.

Larson also added that the library could potentially hire more staff to adequately support everyone’s needs.

“We’re looking at probably in the children’s areas possibly getting some help there, but to be open the same number of hours with twice the a mount of space, we’re going to need a few more hands,” said Larson.

The referendum was passed during the presidential preference primary back in March with over 60% of the vote approving the project.

Now that the referendum has passed, a taxpayer could be paying around $100 to $200 every year depending on their home property value to fund the project.