By Elizabeth Sims
Enterprise Editor

As students grab a drink from the coffee bar, they head to the green screen in a sound proof video room to get to work on a class project.

Soon, these amenities will be available to students at the William T. Cozby Public Library.

When the Coppell 2030 plan was first drafted on Sept. 23, 2010, it established a vision to propel the city forward and ensure a quality standard of living for the future based on five key elements: Sense of Community, Special Place to Live, Community Wellness and Enrichment, Business Prosperity and Sustainable City Government.

Over the past few years, several goals of this plan have already been realized. From the growth of Old Town Coppell to the current construction on Sandy Lake, the city is already experiencing changes as a result of this 20-year plan.

Recently, the William T. Cozby Public Library became the next project to be completed. Falling under the Community Wellness and Enrichment element of the 2030 plan, the library is set to undergo a full redesign to better meet the needs of the public.

“One of the main objectives of this plan is gathering spaces for the community to support a lifelong learning process for all ages,” assistant library director Jane Darling said. “This is really a once in a lifetime opportunity to design something the community really wants to have.”

The community has been a driving force for the project’s lead architects Tony Blaas and Bill Hidell from Hidell and

Associates Architects. They hosted focus group meetings in the library’s program room to gather the opinions and ideas of a variety of community members.

“We’ve found that the best projects are those that people can take ownership of. We’ve seen a lot of libraries and we do a lot of libraries and every community is different,” Hidell said. “For us to come in and tell them what they need is not the right thing to do. They tell us what they want and we put it into architectural form.”

To start the process, teens were invited to give their opinions of the library and design their own teen area using a basic layout of the library and magnets with a variety of elements, from green screens to a sound proof study room, printed on them.

“I’m actually on the library board as a student adviser so I thought it would be important for me to attend and give my input,” freshman Nicole Crumpler said. “It was surprisingly energetic and entertaining. It was interesting to see ideas from other teen spaces and design our own space and what we would like to have implemented.”

Though they are in the early stages of this redesign, Blaas and Hidell are excited for the final result and what it could add to the community.

“We don’t know what our direction will be yet. We will meet the library board, the building community and the general

public. From there we are going to compile all the information and create a plan or multiple schemes and see how it lines up with budgets. Ultimately this is going to be a new destination point for Coppell,” Blaas said.

The city also has high hopes for this redesign to achieve its goal of providing additional space with a variety of uses to the community.

“To provide functional, adaptable spaces for people, innovative technology and the ability to meet the future needs of a family community.  A primary 2030 goal is ‘Community education programs and support of the top quality schools’,” community information officer Sharon Logan said. “Expanding library space to provide a business center, computer lab and inviting gathering spaces will allow the library to enhance programs and services in support of this goal.”

Overall, the library staff is looking forward to enhancing its services for the betterment of the community.

“Its all been very exciting. Libraries are changing and we have the opportunity to make it relevant and current and flexible. It has been a long time coming,” library director Vicki Chiavetta said.

If you have an interest in contributing to the redesign of the library, a business community focus group will be held on Feb. 4 at 7 p.m., a library board focus group will be held on Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. and a public focus group will be held on Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. in the William T. Cozby Public Library program room.