Korean Young Nak is No More
The future site of the Preston Royal Library has been cleared of its former occupant, the Korean Young Nak Church. The plot at Forest Lane and Nuestra Drive is now a finely manicured lot of dirt. But don’t get too excited, there’s still no time frame for when the relocation will take place.
Councilwoman Ann Margolin said the 2006 bond package used to purchase and clear the land for the library did not include funds to build a house for books. Margolin estimates it will take 3 to 5 years to get the rest of the funding secured through a future bond. In the meantime, she added, an architect will design the new library.
For copy of the neighbors Q&A with Director of Public Works Rick Galceran regarding the land, go to the jump.
Q: Is the hard parking surface going to be totally removed? If not, there is an area of concern in the southwest corner of the parking area at Forest/Quincy. The curbed area dams up water in a sizable area, creating a mosquito breeding habitat. This needs to be corrected.
A: All existing paving for the former church property is scheduled to remain for use by the eventual general contractor, for job trailer, material storage and off-street sub-contractor parking. Public Works is aware of the water ponding area at the southwest corner of the parking area and will have the demolition contractor remove a portion of the curb at this location to allow the standing water to escape and flow onto adjacent grass area.
Q: Once the property is restored to mowable condition, how often will the city crews maintain the property? In the past our neighborhood has resorted to calling 311 to keep the property mowed. As of now, weeds are at least a foot tall. The area next to Quincy looks terrible.
A: Hopefully this won’t be an issue in the future. Public Works has alerted the Library Dept. to add this site to their grounds’ maintenance contract and to plan mowing the entire site as soon as vegetation has been established in the disturbed area of the former building footprint. Once the building foundation has been removed and re-graded, the demolition contractor will hydromulch the area and begin watering. Hydromulching should begin by week of May 9th. We anticipate the new grass area will be established by mid to late May.
