March 27. 2026
Capital Necessities Part 4: Library Bathroom Renovation
By Tony Barletta
The historic Manchester-by-the-Sea Public Library needs a public restroom upgrade that accommodates all visitors. The Town will request a capital exclusion approval to fund an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant restroom at the Annual Town Meeting on April 27.
The library was originally gifted to the Town by Thomas Jefferson Coolidge who was the great grandson of President Thomas Jefferson, US Ambassador to France, and an accomplished businessman. The building, constructed of New England ashlar stone, was dedicated in 1887 and carefully maintained to this day. The library is on the National Register of Historic Places and serves as an important part of Manchester’s history.
As some may know, the Manchester Public Library’s single existing bathroom is small, not ADA compliant, lacks a changing table, and is difficult for many to use. An ADA study was completed in 2021 on accessibility in Town buildings and confirmed the need for a new bathroom in the library. Over the past 5 years, Town Meeting has approved multiple forms of funding that have supported library capital efforts. These appropriations included match funding for grants that sought to evaluate the existing conditions of the building, study the feasibility of expansion, and design the ADA bathroom. The library and the Town made multiple attempts to secure grants but were unfortunately unsuccessful. Thus, the Town and the Library decided to focus on the existing facility. The 2025 Annual Town Meeting approved $70,000 to fund the design of the bathroom and minor updates to the archive space on the second floor needed to accommodate its new use as the Director’s office.
Three locations were originally explored within the existing library. However, due to several factors and through this analysis, converting the existing Director’s office was determined to be the best option. As a result, approximately one third of the existing Director’s office will be used for administrative use and the remaining two thirds will be converted to the new bathroom. The new bathroom will include standard ADA accommodations and an adjustable-height universal changing table. Construction of the new ADA bathroom is anticipated to begin in late summer and will take several months to complete. The library will remain open during construction and the old bathroom will be utilized for storage in the future.
This year’s Annual Town Meeting will seek voter approval for a $250,000 capital exclusion in the FY27 budget. If approved at Town meeting, the funding will also need to be approved at the Town Election on May 19. A capital exclusion is a 1-year tax bill impact, different from a debt exclusion that includes multiple years of debt service. For this project, if approved, the 1-year tax bill impact on a property valued at $1 million would be approximately $62 depending on final project costs.
All information on capital requests can be found here. The Annual Town Meeting will be held on Monday, April 27 at Memorial School at 6:30 PM. Public Forums are planned on April 7 and April 14 at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom or in Town Hall to ask questions and learn more about all the warrant articles.