CASTLE PINES — For perhaps the busiest library per square foot in the state, there’s only one way to go: up and out.
That will happen for the city of Castle Pines, which is in negotiations to buy several acres on the southeast corner of Village Square Terrace and Village Square Lane, a few footfalls from the current Castle Pines Library in a nearby strip mall.
The new building, to possibly open in 2016, would encompass a new 5,000-square-foot library and 5,000 square feet for city offices on top, including possibly a shared public meeting space.
“I think the biggest difference a new library will make will be having a community meeting space because that’s been a challenge here in the community,” said Kyra Hanh, one of two librarians at the branch, which gets about 1,500 patrons a week at the roughly 2,400-square-foot library. “When we opened up this branch, we didn’t have any community rooms or study rooms. If they want those, they actually have to go to one of our larger facilities, and there’s not a lot of places that just allow you to gather, so I think that will be the biggest difference.”
Sam Bishop, community development director for Castle Pines, said the city now leases space in an office building. Douglas County Libraries approached the city about finding space for a Castle Pines Library, and the current space they found in 2009 was also supposed to be interim.
The city has been looking for the past two years for land for the combined offices and library. The library would build, own and operate the building, Bishop said.
“(The library) really enjoys being in the central location in the business district and that’s how we came to this parcel,” Bishop said.
Bishop said the city is set to close on the land Aug. 30, so the official price hasn’t been set yet.
Jamie LaRue, director of Douglas County Libraries, said Castle Pines is a very literate city and he’s hoping the new library will be acceptable for the community of about 10,000 for five to seven years.
“As a new city, they’re looking for things that bring them together, and the library serves that function,” LaRue said.
He said first the library district wants to get the design phase done for a new Parker library and then will jump right into the design phase for the new Castle Pines Library, possibly by the end of the year, made possible through the city buying the land for the building.
“We are so impressed and pleased by what the civic leaders and city of Castle Pines did, enabling us to move much faster than what we thought we could do.”
He admitted the current Castle Pines Library is too small, but it was the best they could do after a ballot initiative for a new library failed in 2008.
Rock Smallwood, a volunteer at the Castle Pines Library who lives in the city, said there’s a lot of buzz and excitement in the community about the new library.
Hahn said the community has always been very supportive of the library, and she’s never heard a negative comment about it.
She suspects public meeting space will be the big demand from residents during the public input phase of the project. Having a larger space will also allow them to do more programming, without having to move furniture and book cases as they have to now. She also said patrons like what they already have, so more room will mean the ability to increase what residents already like.
Pat Walsh lives in Parker but comes to the Castle Pines Library because it has a better new-fiction section than the Parker Library.
The district has started a fundraising campaign for the construction of the new libraries, called No Leaf Unturned Campaign, which will take place over the next three to five years.
Clayton Woullard: 303-954-2953, cwoullard@denverpost.com
