MIDDLEBURY — At last Tuesday’s meeting, members of the Middlebury selectboard unanimously approved the Ilsley Library Board’s request to search for a fundraising consultant to help determine the potential success of community fund drive for a proposed expansion/renovation of the library building on Main Street.
“The key objective of the study would be to provide a realistic assessment of the feasibility of raising funds from private sources sufficient to cover 60 percent of the project’s total cost, currently estimated to be between $8 million and $11 million,” according to a memo to the board from Middlebury Town Manager Kathleen Ramsay.
The proposed project is intended to remedy the Ilsley’s space crunch, especially for children’s and youth programs and technology offerings; fix water filtration problems; create safer, more accessible and welcoming entries; retain all parking and keep Ilsley’s 170,000 annual visitors downtown; fix dated heating and ventilation systems; and enhance the original 1924 building’s architecture.
In other recent action, the Middlebury selectboard:
•  Granted permission for a new restaurant at 1 Washington St., called Coriander, to sell beer and wine.
•  Accepted into nomination the names of residents Megan Curran and Megan Mayo, both candidates to fill a vacancy on the Middlebury Parks & Recreation Committee.
•  Agreed to apply for technical assistance from the Vermont Urban & Community Forestry Program to help Middlebury draft a “town forest action plan.”