State grant for Gritters Library project on Cobb commission agenda

Gritters Library reopening

A capital outlay grant from the Georgia Public Library Service for nearly $2 million to help fund the reconstruction of the Gritters Library branch in Northeast Cobb will be considered Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

The agency is a part of the Georgia Board of Regents and provides state bond funding for the construction and renovation of public libraries. According to an agenda item, a state grant of $1.9 million has been awarded for the $6.8 million Gritters replacement project.

That’s a project included in the Cobb 2016 SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax). Initially, plans called for $2.9 million in renovations to upgrade technology and to enhance programs and serves and add community meeting rooms at Gritters, which opened at its current location in Shaw Park in 1973.

Tuesday’s agenda item notes that construction on the Gritters project “must begin within 180 days following the grant award, and at least 5 percent of the total cost of the grant must be spent within six months.”

There’s not a timetable for construction that’s indicated on the agenda item; more on the Gritters grant from GPLS can be found here.

Gritters is the last of the library projects remaining in the 2016 SPLOST. That collection period funded the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center that replaced the East Marietta Library, the consolidation of Acworth and Kennesaw branches to form the new North Cobb Regional Library and major renovations to the Switzer, South Cobb Regional and Sibley branches.

The full agenda for Tuesday’s commission meeting can be found here.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta, and will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.