The time for fantazising is over. The time for decisions begins today.

After a two-year process of outlining the hopes and dreams for an expanded Lawrence Public Library – and a week after local developers submitted proposals which included residential and commercial developments that would reshape downtown – city officials this morning will start evaluating the realities.

All the choices now on the table could cost taxpayers $40 million or more.

“I guess the biggest thing for me is I’ve got to figure what we can afford,” Mayor Mike Amyx said.

Some of Lawrence’s more active interest groups are keeping a close eye on the process but aren’t ready to render judgments.

“We’re very interested” in the library redevelopment, said Rick Marquez, executive director of Downtown Lawrence Inc. “I think we’d like to look at the plans, let our members look at the proposals and think about them a little while, before we decide. Whether we like them, we don’t like them, like some better than others – we just need some time.”

Gwen Klingenberg, president of the Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods, agreed.

“More info is needed by the people I contacted,” she said in an e-mail to the Journal-World.

The committee of officials and library leaders that meets today won’t recommend a decision; instead, members will list the pros and cons of each proposal before sending the matter on to the City Commission.

“From there it could be a multiweek, multimonth process,” said Dave Corliss, the interim city manager.

Whittled down?

The options:

¢ Massive redevelopment of parts of the 600, 700 and 800 blocks of Vermont and Kentucky streets by the Fritzel family, owners of a local construction company.

¢ A proposal by members of the Simons family – which owns the Journal-World – to place the library along the Kansas River, in the former Riverfront Mall.

¢ Redevelopment by Lawrence developer Doug Compton that would turn much of the east side of the 800 block of New Hampshire Street into a library, retail-residential development and a large public plaza designed by artist Stan Herd.

¢ A plan by developers of the Downtown 2000 project to suspend a multistory library above a section of New Hampshire Street near Ninth Street.

¢ Expansion of the existing library, at Seventh and Vermont streets, into the building’s current parking lot – parking would go below-ground. This is the only proposal with no additional commercial or residential development.

Any of the first four options, Amyx said, would amount to one of the largest downtown redevelopment projects in recent Lawrence history.

“This would probably be the biggest that I’ve seen,” he said.

But those proposals could be whittled down, he said.

“When we started out, we were talking about a library,” he said. “Then we did an (request for proposals) and started talking about more development. It’s grown bigger than I thought.”

The evaluation group meets from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. today at City Hall.