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Architect urges Court House addition board is asking for. To build less than 12,000, he said, would be a mistake. Renovating existing space and adding a new wing with basement, ground floor and second storey, all wheelchair accessible, would still cost less than a new building -he roughly estimated $1.2 million for the renovation and addition, and $1.5 million for the same amount of space in a completely new building. The Court House addition, he said, would sacrifice only eight parking spaces of the existing parking lot. Also an urban planner, Carter says the library belongs downtown. But as someone who loves libraries, he added, the ambience that could be created with a new library in the Court House would build on its historic legacy. "A new building by the most clever architect could never achieve that distinction, that ambience." Refusing to comment on the designs until other board members have seen them, Mollie Enns, library board member Dave Eke and head librarian Gerda Molson all voiced concerns about parking difficulties driving away library patrons. No solution presented so far seems work-able, they agreed, and Molson, who admits to avoiding Queen Street like the plague, says she envisions the town spending more than $1-million on a library nobody will use, because of traffic and parking problems. The need for extra staff in a multi-level library would also incur continuing costs to the town, Enns pointed out, and Eke returned several times to the parking issue. Parking is a management problem for the town to deal with, Carter said. Although NOTL may have a large number of tourists, it is not unique in that. "I've travelled in Venice, in many small towns in Italy and in France, and they have beautiful parking systems." Coalition member Mary Jane Grant believes the parking problem can be overcome if the will is there. "In fact the library sits in a sea of parking. What we lack is a council with the political will to give up the revenue from the parking metres." Old Town merchants have agreed some parking should be set aside for residents, she said, and plan to present a proposal to council on the issue. Carter's suggestions will be presented to the town council, Huyge said, along with the concerns of the library board - the need for parking solutions, increased operating costs, and building an addition to a heritage building. Council has deferred the library decision until June 22 while the town staff look at future uses of the Court House, but the majority of aldermen have stated the library will move to a new location, without stating where. PHOTO: Library board member Dave Eke,coalition member Judy MacLachlan, architect Phillip Carter and coalition members Rene Huyge and Mary Jane Grant prepare to view slides of the architect's past library projects.