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When Scott | Edwards Architecture began its design of a new building to house Canby’s public library and city offices, firm staffers treaded carefully.

鈥淲e really took the whole approach of trying to gather the community and the city around something they could afford, something that would be a timeless building,鈥� said Rick Berry, a principal with the Portland-based firm. 鈥淭hat was key, and really trying to get public involvement as much as possible.鈥�

This is the second iteration of the project. Nearly two years ago, a plan to spend $10 million to construct a new building for the Canby Public Library and renovate Canby City Hall fizzled when the city’s urban renewal agency voted to stop work. Opponents had criticized the plan to use urban renewal dollars.

鈥淲hen I first started (working) here, there wasn’t really a project on the table,鈥� said Melissa Kelly, who became director of the Canby Public Library in October 2013. 鈥淚t was really divisive.鈥�

As a result of the urban renewal agency’s vote, city officials were forced to return charitable organizations’ grants obtained for the project. Also, when the project was halted in 2013, the city had sitting in the bank $10.5 million in bond money that officials in 2012 sold specifically for construction of a new library.

Now the project has been revived. In May 2014, Canby voters overwhelmingly approved a proposal for the city’s urban renewal agency to build a new civic center and library complex using the remaining $9 million in bond money from the failed 2013 effort.

City officials saw last year’s vote as an opportunity to approach the project differently, Kelly said. Portland-based FFA Architecture and Interiors designed the original plans for the library building and Happy Valley-based Emerick Construction was slated to construct it. But after the restart, city officials put the project out to bid again, hiring a new design and construction team led by Scott | Edwards and Woodburn-based Triplett Wellman Contractors.

鈥淭he urban renewal agency 鈥� they really wanted to start fresh,鈥� Kelly said.

Scott | Edwards staffers are in the process of preparing construction documents for a reimagined 35,000-square-foot civic building and library, Berry said. The estimated $6.2 million development will be constructed on a downtown Canby property 鈥� near the intersection of Northeast Second Avenue and Ivy Street 鈥� that was purchased with city urban renewal dollars in August 2014.

Triplett Wellman crews are scheduled to break ground in September on the two-story building that will consolidate offices for city staffers working in the administration, finance, development and tech services departments, and hold a new library and city council chambers. Construction is expected to finish by August 2016.

The Scott | Edwards team was aware of the previous design by FFA when it took on the project, but brought a different vision to the table, Berry said. The original design was conceived using public input from a series of community meetings. For the revised design, Scott | Edwards staffers again sought such feedback in a second round of public meetings held in the spring.

鈥淲e really wanted to get the community around something that would be realistic and fit within the budget,鈥� Berry said.

One way that public money will be economized is by combining the library and government operations in one building, he said. The city offices, council chamber and library will share a main lobby, public meeting room and outdoor plaza. City and library staffers will use the same break room.

鈥淭he advantages of creating that one building is all of those spaces can go into one facility,鈥� Berry said. 鈥淲hen you’re building one building, it’s a lot cheaper.鈥�

Designing the building involved finding ways to weave the city and library and 鈥渃reate a fabric between the two elements of the building,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey share a core.鈥�

Because the new civic center and library will likely have a long-standing presence in the community, Berry said he was especially conscious of ensuring that the building design wouldn’t appear dated. Much of the inspiration for the mostly brick-and-glass facade of the proposed new building came from nearby structures, but with a contemporary touch, he said.

鈥淲e looked at a lot of historic buildings that are in Canby and adjacent small towns in Oregon, and we tried to look at the vernacular and follow some of the cues of the storefronts,鈥� Berry said.

The approximately 22,000-square-foot library space will be nearly twice as large as the existing one in a former hardware store on North Holly Street, Kelly said. The new space will also include a meeting room for hosting community events and library programs as well as smaller study rooms that the current library lacks, she said.

鈥淭his is going to be our new library for at least 50 years,鈥� Kelly said. 鈥淲e really will be able to grow into the space.鈥�

Canby Public Library and Civic Center

Location: 220-222 N.E. Second Ave.

Estimated cost: $6.2 million

Anticipated construction start: September 2015

Anticipated construction finish: August 2016

Owner: city of Canby

Architect: Scott | Edwards Architecture

Landscape architect: Shapiro Didway

Engineers: WDY Engineers, Interface Engineering, Harper Houf Peterson Righellis Inc.

General contractor: Triplett Wellman Contractors