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New Berlin library in final stage of planning

 (March 16, 2017) The new Berlin branch of the Worcester County Library will be open next summer, library officials said at the Berlin Mayor and Council meeting on Monday.
The council unanimously approved a waiver of permit fees for the library and labor costs associated with electrical installation, a combined value of $26,727.
Councilman Dean Burrell said, along with a previous grant of $75,000, the town has now contributed more than $100,000 to the library.
In total, the Worcester County Library Foundation has raised about $425,000 in donations, including a $150,000 matching grant from the Humphries Foundation.
The library foundation also received close to $1.8 million in grants from Maryland Department of Education.
Plans for the library date back to 2006, when former Library Director Mark Thomas included the notion in a capital improvement plan sent to the county.
Worcester County bought a 6.4-acre parcel of land on Harrison Avenue in June 2014 for $430,000, with the intention of building a new library there.
Library Director Jennifer Ranck said the project had been locked in the design phase for about two years.
“Throughout the planning the Berlin community has been extremely supportive,” she said. “During the last two years, the library has worked to secure funding from the state, the county and community donations, and now we are so close.”
She said the library would present the final guaranteed maximum price to the Worcester County Commissioners on March 21.
The new 12,000-square-foot brick building will be about four times larger than the current Berlin library, built in 1970. Ranck said the building was designed to consume less energy than typical structures that size.
She said it would include community meeting and performance spaces, a Berlin and Worcester County history collection, expanded teen and child-reading areas, more public-use computers, expanded community gardens and improved overall functionality.
Library officials hope to begin construction next month.
“You may have heard the expression a good book builds character. Well, a great library builds community and this new facility will allow us to do just that,” Ranck said.  
Berlin Mayor Gee Williams was impressed with the plans, which he said struck a balance between beauty and functionality.
“While it’s a very 21st century library in terms of what it provides for the community, it’s also a very appropriate in terms of its architecture and charm for the community,” Williams said. “I’m hoping that that will be one more example that the two are not at odds.”
He said community space, in particular, had been a need in Berlin for some time.
“I can’t tell you how excited we are,” Williams said. “I’m pleased also to hear … that it may be open in the summer of 2018.”
Councilman Zackery Tyndall added, “It looks like it’s going to be a great addition to the town.”
Councilman Thom Gulyas said a prior county commissioner, his late mother, Louise Gulyas, was an advocate of building the Ocean City Library.
“I’m very proud to be sitting up here to help you guys with this,” he said. “She would be very proud of what you’ve done.”
Several other major construction projects are underway in Berlin, including the new police station on Flower Street, where foundation footings were recently put in, and the Ocean’s East apartment complex on Seahawk Road, where framing has reportedly begun.
Two others could start soon: Patrick Vorsteg’s building on 15 Gay Street, which will have storefronts on the first floor and apartments overhead, and a similar project on 21 Jefferson Street being overseen by Habitat for Humanity of Worcester County. That building will house space for artist-run shops and studios on the first floor and apartments on the second floor.
On Monday, the council approved a fundraising event for the Habitat project slated for Saturday, June 3. Executive Director Andrea Bowland said the “Farm to Table” dinner would bring local chefs and farmers together to introduce a multicourse meal to guests at a long table near the future site of the building. Proceeds would benefit the project.  
The council approved the event by a 4-1 vote. The lone “no” vote, Gulyas, objected to the inclusion of alcohol in the event, but praised it overall. He offered to do all the printing, including tickets, through his business ACE Printing & Mailing.