Plans for a new centralized library at the Inter-city Shopping Centre have hit a speedbump.
City administration suggests City Council maintain Thunder Bay’s four existing branches, sticking to the status quo option.
This is in part because the new facility would be in a leased property.
The other two options in the library’s 2024 Master Facilities Plan include building a new library, keeping Waverly and Mary JL Black branches, and the possible divestiture of the Brodie branch. The third option also includes closing the County Park branch.
The city is being asked to contribute 8.5 million dollars to the construction of the new centralized library. Additional funding would come from the library system.
In the plan, it suggested that a central library would be cheaper than maintaining the city’s current branches.
City Councilors will be debating the merits of the Master Facilities Plan on Monday night.