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FRPL submitted a letter to the RPL Board for an online presentation to the RPL Board at its Sept. 23 meeting.

Meeting agenda https://www.reginalibrary.ca/about/leadership/board-meetings-2025 

Notes from the FRPL presentation

We are particularly concerned about the Request for Qualifications for Central Library planning, to be discussed on the 23^rd.

We refer you to our presentation to City Council in March 2025 with our comments value of the Central Library and costs, and on the architectural heritage significance of Central Library, further reinforced by the City of Regina’s own Statement of Significance for Central Library (Appendix 1), and reiterated again in a letter from the National Trust of Canada to the City of Regina, which underlines their firm understanding of the national heritage significance of Regina’s Central Library to the history of Canada.

In brief:

1. Central is a Municipal Heritage building. It opened in 1962, and since 1995 has been legally protected within the Victoria Park Heritage Conservation District (VPHCD) bylaw, under the provincial Heritage Property Act. https://www.regina.ca/bylaws-permits-licences/bylaws/Victoria-Park-Heritage-Conservation-District-Bylaw/
2. Designed by Regina architect Kiyoshi Izumi, the first known Japanese – Canadian architect, Central’s value has been respected in the City’s Statement of Significance, in the 2007 Regina Declaration by local and national proponents in the Ordinary Amazing Symposium https://www.canadianarchitect.com/the-ordinary-amazing-symposium-the-cultural-value-of-modernist-architecture/ , and in the 2024-2025 MacKenzie Art Gallery exhibition “Spring on the Prairie: Kiyoshi Izumi and the work of Izumi Arnott and Sugiyama”. https://mackenzie.art/exhibition/spring-on-the-prairie/
3. Submissions made to the City Council on March 17, 2025 letters from citizens with important and inspiring information and photos. (See March 17, 2025 Delegates List – Presentations under RPL heading and also letters listed under Communications https://reginask.iqm2.com/Citizens/Calendar.aspx ) This record has been updated to include the letter from the National Trust for Canada.
4. Central Library has been nominated for this year’s Top Ten Endangered Places List for Canada. https://nationaltrustcanada.ca/what-we-offer/endangered-places Contact FRPL for nomination letter.
5. Although the building has never had a major renovation in its lifetime, and “RPL has resisted investing significant sums of money to improve or perform maintenance on the current library unless it is absolutely necessary” (https://central.reginalibrary.ca/assets/2017051.pdf , Central Library Business Case 2017/02, p.19.), it remains in fine structural condition, according to all assessments.
6. The RPL Board has a moral and legal duty to follow the spirit of the VPHCD bylaw and the Heritage Property Act, and that any proposals for renewal on the current library property ought to be in keeping with the guidelines and purposes of this legislation.
7. Renovation of the current heritage building would cost much less than demolition and replacement. Even with putting on additional storeys, the cost would be less. See the Deloitte report Central Library Business Case https://central.reginalibrary.ca/assets/2017051.pdf, pages 1-2, 26-27. Previous studies for the RPL have indicated the possibilities of renovation and expansion, rather than a new building. A plan was actually made in 1993 for an expansion of the building, available from the Saskatchewan Archives. (Arnott Kelley O’Connor & Associates Ltd., Architects, Engineers, Planners. This was the successor firm of Izumi Arnott and Sugiyama, who were the original architects and repository of knowledge about the building.)
8. Rehabilitation and expansion would be the most environmentally sensitive action, rather than having the current building go to the landfill.

In conclusion, the Request for Qualifications, being discussed in today’s agenda, should require the applicants to have a commitment to the history of Regina, the vision for a sensitive expansion, and knowledge of processes for rehabilitating the current Central Library building to create a renewed improved building for library purposes in its current ideal location.

RPL Board denied the opportunity for FRPL and other citizens to make presentations to the RPL Board at a critical meeting about the future of Central Library.

The RPL’s draft agenda, posted on Friday July 14, for which citizens had only until Tuesday July 18 at noon to write a presentation and request to make a presentation, included:

8. Discussion and decision items

(a) Board Committees

iv) Strategic Planning Committee

(1)  Project Charter

(2)  Project Governance Terms of Reference

(3)  Colliers Statement of Work for Central Library Renewal Project

(4)  Colliers Statement of Work for Central Library Temporary Relocation Project

(5)  Branch renewal update

FRPL and other citizens sent in letters requesting to make presentations at the RPL Board meeting on July 25, 2023. In its letter FRPL restated our position that it would be better to expand on the new building, rather than tear it down and rebuild. We went on to ask questions about the criteria for future development and public participation processes. FRPL presentation FRPL to RPL Board July 18, 2023 – fina

On July 21 RPL sent the following email:

.. The topics represented in your submission do not align with topics on the agenda. The Library Board decision made in September 2022 is not under review and the Board’s work to move forward supports its decision to build a new Central Library, with a preference for the current location. The Library’s engagement of Colliers Project Leaders as its owner’s representative was undertaken over three years ago and is not under review. The Library Board does not have purview over how City Council allocates project funding. The many other topics you have included are not in question at this meeting.

As outlined in the Submissions and Delegations Policy, your submission will be included in the Board’s package for their information and later posted to the RPL website. …”

Similar emails were sent in response to Jeannie Mah RPL Board. July 2023 and Florence Stratton LIBRARY BOARD, CENTRAL LIBRARY, JULY 25 2023

The RPL Board continues its efforts to restrict public discussion of its decisions or future plans. Unlike City Council, the RPL Board does not release any details in advance about its agenda items. Reports given at the “public meetings” are not published along with the minutes. The minutes only appear publicly over 2 months after the meetings, after they are approved by the RPL Board at its subsequent meeting, then eventually posted on their website.

NEVERTHELESS, CITIZENS ARE URGED TO ATTEND THE NEXT RPL BOARD MEETING ON JLUY 25 AT 4:30 PM. Check details on the day of the meeting to confirm. https://www.reginalibrary.ca/about/leadership/board-meetings-2023

• In person, at the RPL Boardroom on the second floor of Central Library..
• Via Microsoft Teams – you must email the RPL in advance to be included on the list.
• Or by teleconference: check the RPL agenda for the conference call-in number and password.