CORNWALL, Ontario – The Cornwall Public Library recently revealed plans to build an oasis on the roof of their building.
Nearly two years ago, a committee formed to explore the possibility of making better use of the rooftop space.
The space is about 100 feat by 70 feat.
They approached FOTENN Planning + Design to conduct a study of the space and they formulated an oasis with seating, a stage and a garden area.
“By creating a green oasis under the sky in Cornwall it will be our contribution to the vision of creating a vibrant downtown,” said Francois Marineau, a spokesman for the committee. “We’re hoping to create a special place that is some sort of a model that people are proud of and use.”
All funding for the project is coming from fundraising, including the FOTENN study.
The total cost of the project is estimated at $250, 000, so far $13, 500 has been paid to FOTENN for their initial study of the rooftop area.
The meeting, held at the library on Tuesday, June 6 was to call together the “do-ers” of the community to inform them of the plans and to get their help in moving it forward.
Some ideas for use of the space include terrariums, hosting book club meetings, yoga, Tai Chi, star gazing and outdoor painting.
Bill Carriere of Transition Cornwall + highlighted the fact that a project like this would be unique in not just Cornwall, but in Ontario.
“We’ve found that there are not a lot of these,” he said. “We realized if we developed this we would be developing something that could be very unique. This is something taht could attract not just people in Cornwall by could attract people to the city as well.”
The committee is asking the public for their input now on how the project could go forward.
They plan on spending the rest of 2017 consulting on the issue, then fundraising in 2018 and then hopefully starting to build the project in 2019.
