Exterior renovation project underway at Sewickley Public Library

Bob Lavery has been coming to the Sewickley Public Library for nearly 30 years.

The borough resident has witnessed many of its renovations and rehabilitations from the expansion in the late 1990s and the replacement of its Spanish tile roof of the reference department (also known as the original entrance of the historic landmark), to HVAC and material upgrades and more.

He and other library patrons will be adding another change to their list of library memories as a new landscaping and construction project is underway.

Work includes a new courtyard along Broad Street, built into the architectural cutout along with a pathway and ramp connecting the existing patio with the new courtyard and parking lot.

The patio is getting a facelift with limestone and general maintenance repairs. The lawn surrounding the facility will be regraded to preserve the historic foundation.

The patio is currently only accessible from the reference department.

The project also includes new lighting, landscaping and garden beds as well as an expansion of the hardscape near the granite memorial lamp and improved seating on Thorn Street.

“I think it will actually make it more prominent, more accessible,” said Lavery, 65. “Especially if you can go in from that outside ramp. I didn’t think those hedges were that good. I’m sorry to see the tree that was by the old front entrance go. That used to be the main entrance to the main library before they put the addition on.”

Lavery’s family has been a part of the library’s success. He was once a member of the Friends of the Sewickley Public Library, an independent fundraising organization that supports the library. His late wife, Teresa Lavery, also worked as a library clerk for about five years.

Lavery believes the library is a great community resource run by a stellar group of people.

“They have great employees,” he said. “You have a good board that’s committed to continuing the function of a library. I think the new addition was a good thing. They needed that. You can see that they’re expanding and have things other than books and magazines that you can take out. They have equipment that enables people to accomplish things they need to accomplish. It’s a good system.”

Richelle Klug, library head of communications, said the project grew from other landscaping efforts about two years ago.

The library removed several bushes at the time and was considering lawn adjustments.

“Just through discussion, we realized this project could be bigger than what we first imagined,” Klug said. “Once we had a little more funding on the table, we were able to take it to a new level. This is a thoughtful refresh. We’re not just going through and tearing things apart.”

The library contracted with E.K. Smith Landscape Design in partnership with Studio St. Germain for the new upgrades.

E.K. Smith was the designer of the outdoor patio and is managing the new project. The labor is subcontracted to a number of specialized crews.

“We are excited to offer our community another valuable resource in the form of a beautiful outdoor space with places to sit, read and talk with their neighbors,” Library Executive Director Ruth M. Neely said via a news release. “We are grateful for the support of our donors and the library board of directors for making this vision possible, and to the community for their patience as we bring this long-awaited project to life.”

Klug said the project was made possible through a generous donation by Carol and Gary Schurman.

Library officials declined to release project costs.

The patio will be closed during construction.

Outdoor initiatives such as the summer food truck celebrations launched last year were canceled this season.

Library Assistant Director Dustin Shilling said he does not anticipate any other impacts to programs as a result of the project.

Shilling hopes new initiatives will spring up as a result of the development.

“We’ve been looking at our landscaping for a few years now and we know that it needs improvement,” Shilling said. “We can do more with our outdoor space to invite people in; to use the space for recreation and to do more outdoor programming, as a secondary addition to all things we do inside.”

According to its annual report, the library offered about 1,300 programs last year with nearly 34,460 participants.

About 500 people stepped through the library’s doors daily.

Materials borrowed included more than 245,000 books, 11,300 audiobooks, 42,700 movies, 4,200 music albums, 5,200 print magazines, 42,600 ebooks and magazines and 46,700 digital streaming sessions.

The library also provided more than 2,000 craft kits.

Crews broke ground on July 14.

The project began with the removal of five large trees, including red maples, from around the library, which was approved earlier this year by the Shade Tree Commission.

They will be replaced with some smaller trees, including some Prunus snow goose trees.

“It was mostly for the preservation of our building because they are clogging up a lot of gutters and it involved a lot more maintenance than it should,” Klug said of the tree removal. “We’re worried about our foundations, too, with the big roots getting in. We’re starting by taking down everything that needs to be removed and we’ll build back up from there.”

The new trees are not expected to grow as large as the ones that were removed.

The project is expected to be completed in early September.

A grand opening celebration is planned for 5:30 p.m. Sept. 18 with a rain date of Sept. 25.