Clark County library leaders work to open 2 new branches

Mar. 12—Clark County Public Library officials continue work to open two new locations, one on the east side of Springfield and the other in Northridge.

Library officials have decided to add two more branches in those areas because the population continues to grow from new housing developments in Springfield and beyond.

One new branch will be located on the east side of Springfield in existing space at 191-193 S. Tuttle Drive, in the shopping plaza near Walmart.

The Northridge branch library, a new construction project, will be located in the 4000 block of Middle Urbana Road near Moorefield Road, which is about seven miles from the main branch in downtown Springfield.

"We are excited about bringing two new locations online for the community," said Allison Peck, public relations manager.

Tuttle Road Branch

This roughly 5,000-square-feet location will feature a small meeting room, study rooms, computers, books and materials.

"Things are moving along well with this location," Peck said.

Before opening, the space needed to be retrofitted to meet library needs, renovating the interior of the new branch. Once the renovation is finished, the library will begin the process of populating the branch with materials and staff.

Luminaut is the architect and doing the basic design inside, while KAPP Construction also is working on the project.

This branch is estimated to open in early to mid summer.

Northridge Branch

This branch will have dedicated adult, teen and children's areas and materials, multiple meeting rooms and study areas for the public to use, and an outdoor multiuse programming and reading patio that backs up to Moorefield Family Park.

It will serve around 7,500 people in Northridge and nearly 11,000 people in Moorefield Twp.

The architects and designers for this project, Luminaut, have held multiple public and staff input meetings for the location, and the design for the branch reflects the requests and ideas that came out of those sessions, officials said.

A pre-bid meeting for the Northridge branch was held on Feb. 28 and it has been posted on the website at www.ccplohio.org/news/library-accepting-bids-for-northridge-branch-project. The Board of Trustees will hold a special session meeting at 4 p.m. March 29 to open bids received for this branch.

The bid proposal for the new building is an estimated $4.8 million for the base bid and added alternates.

A groundbreaking for the branch is planned in May or June of this year, and it is expected to open in spring or summer 2025.

"I can only echo that we are extremely excited opening these new locations," said Director Bill Martino.

The Clark County Public Library system has multiple branches, with three in Springfield, one in Enon and one in South Charleston. The library also has a bookmobile that travels around the county.

The library also purchased the former Roger Storer Plumbing site at the end of last year to become its operations center for the library system. The office building will house administrative offices and the bookmobile department. The larger building will be used to house bookmobiles, have space for the delivery vehicles, provide extra storage, and have a space to house discards for the Friends of the Library that are used each year at the book sale.

For more information about the library, visit www.ccplohio.org or call 937-328-6903.