SEA BRIGHT — Closed since superstorm Sandy, the borough’s public library is set to reopen in a temporary home in June.
The upstairs meeting room in the Sea Bright United Methodist Church, located at 1102 Ocean Ave., will be the temporary space for the library until the proposed beachfront community center is developed. The church is across the street from Borough Hall.
According to Elizabeth DeGiulio, members of the library advisory committee have worked diligently to find a new space for the facility, known as the J.W. Ross Cultural Center and Library, which was destroyed at its former location at 1097 Ocean Ave. during the October 2012 superstorm.
The committee, headed by Liz Von Ziegesar, includes members DeGiulio and Councilwoman Peggy Bills.
“We have been trying to find alternate places since Sandy; however, rents were too high,” she said. “The rent at the church came in reasonable.”
In December, the Borough Council voted unanimously to approve a resolution to temporarily house the library inside the church. The one-year lease includes a cost of $1,000 per month, borough officials have said.
DeGiulio, who attended the Borough Council meeting on May 5, said work is progressing and the shelves have been installed.
“Books were donated to the library when the Lincroft branch library closed in Middletown [in 2013],” she said, adding that the books were placed in storage until a space for the temporary library could be found. The books were delivered to the church on May 7.
The library will be open Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Officials from the Monmouth County Library system will be on hand to place bar codes on the books, and librarians from the county will be on hand initially to train library personnel, DeGiulio said.
In addition, computers will be updated prior to the library’s opening, she said.
Initial plans were to rebuild the library, but cost estimates of more than $200,000 were much higher than anticipated, and the decision was made to demolish it instead.
The proposed beachfront community center is planned to accommodate multiple uses, changing facilities, bathrooms and beach lockers on the first floor for those using the beach; and a library, media center and community meeting rooms — with space for up to 150 seats — on the second floor.
DeGiulio said once everything is in place at the church, there will be a grand opening scheduled in June.