WESTHAMPTON — The hilly and verdant backyard of the Westhampton Public Library, home to some of the library’s best-attended programs, will soon receive an accessibility facelift.
With a new backyard accessibility committee, over $8,000 in grant funding, and an in-progress feasibility study through the Conway School of Landscape, the library backyard access project is well underway.
“We’re a public library — we’re free and open to all, and we want the programs, both indoors and outdoors, to be accessible to people,” Director Meaghan Schwelm said.
Last year, the library conducted a community survey as part of its 2023-2028 strategic plan.
“We received some feedback from community members that there were challenges to using the backyard, and that it could be more user-friendly for older adults which, in turn, would also benefit people in the disabilities community, potentially parents with strollers,” Schwelm said.
The two-tiered backyard runs along Stage Road on a downhill slope to Hampshire Regional High School, and it’s where programs like the summer concert series and the Fall Festival are held.
The mostly-flat top tier is where most musicians and performers set up and audience members sit for events, but larger events sometimes spill over onto the lower tier, which is accessed by a small stone stairwell.
“The concerts in the library’s backyard have been really popular with all the residents of all ages, and it’s important that, like the inside already is, the outside is accessible to everyone regardless of their mobility,” said Phoebe Mitchell, a member of the committee.
Shwelm added, “We have these beautiful stone stairways, but they’re certainly not accessible. … They’re difficult for people with any mobility challenges to navigate.”
When the Friends of the Library received a donation from CVE North America — the solar company that agreed to give money back to the town as part of an allowance to build a solar farm on Montague Road — accessibility came to mind as an area for improvement.
So, the Friends formed a committee and submitted an application for the Northampton-based Conway School of Landscape Design to conduct a feasibility study analyzing how to make the backyard more accessible.
Schwelm said a student at the school is tasked with coming up with an alternate route to the stone stairs, assessing the yard and surveying measurements, as well as looking into potentially ADA-compliant parking in the back of the library.
That feasibility study will likely be submitted around December or January.
In the meantime, the library has already added lighting in the backyard to make it easier for people to get back to their cars after nighttime events.
The committee has also ordered railings for the stairs that already exist — which Schwelm said will never be ADA-compliant. The railings are expected to be installed for added safety by spring.
Schwelm also said the library has already begun talking about potentially raising additional funds or applying for grants to address needs identified in the feasibility study.
“As time goes on, we’d like to have a more open meeting for people to weigh in about their thoughts once we have some possible plans in place,” she added.
Maddie Fabian can be reached at mfabian@gazettenet.com.