Rockport — A community meeting with the Rockport Public Library Planning Committee and Scott Simons Architects will take place Tuesday, March 19, at 7 p.m. at the Rockport Opera House meeting room.

This community meeting is the latest step in Rockport Public Library’s ongoing future planning process, funded in large part by a grant from the Davis Family Foundation.

Surveys and focus groups revealed that library and program attendance have skyrocketed, making the library’s 3,200-square-feet feel increasingly cramped. An engineering study of the current facilities revealed that expansion on this site is not possible due to set back restrictions from the stream running next to the library. The last addition maximized any allowable increase in size. The library cannot go up or out.

The final portion of the Davis Family Foundation grant funds a conceptual design of a possible new library on the old Rockport Elementary School site. A site survey was completed in winter 2010-2011, and a Request for Qualifications went out to architects in fall 2012.

The library director gathered a committee consisting of members of the library committee, Friends of RPL, town departments, town committees, and Rockport citizens for this phase of the grant. The committee received nine applications, interviewed four architectural firms, and selected Scott Simons Architects of Portland to create a conceptual design based on the space and programming needs of the library and the needs of the community.

The committee and Scott Simons Architects are eager for community input during this process, and invite everyone to attend the March 19 meeting. The meeting will also be televised, and plans are in place to allow people at home to call in with questions.

See the library’s website — rockport.lib.me.us — for more information about the future planning process, including a list of committee members, all of whom are available to answer questions.