Free at Last: New Village Law Will Allow Frontyard Libraries

Nine months after Whitefish Bay received national attention for not allowing Little Free Libraries in village, the front-yard libraries are about to become legal.

The Village Board on Monday is expected to pass an ordinance that would formally allow churches, residents and organizations erect the small, wooden libraries — really not much more than a bookshelf — in their front yards.

Trustees already decided in May to reverse course and allow the libraries here. Monday's action, however, will set formal rules and procedures for the libraries.

For example, the libraries could not be more than 3 feet wide and 3 feet tall; only one would be allowed per block; and the library plans would have to be approved by the village's Architectural Review Board and would require a building permit.

The action comes after Whitefish Bay last year became the first known municipality in the nation to ban the libraries.  There are an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 Little Free Libraries around the country — freestanding little book houses in front of homes, businesses and community organizations that allow people to take a book or leave one behind.

The Village Board first took up the issue in November after a couple asked the building inspector for permission to build one in their yard. 

After grappling with possible ordinance revisions, trustees in  found that regulating the size, color and number of Little Free Libraries became a "hornet's nest" and decided instead to simply enforce the existing ordinance that outlaws any front-yard structures.

In doing so, the village asked Christ Church of Whitefish Bay to remove the Little Free Library it had erected four months earlier.