CHEYENNE — The Laramie County Library System is extending its Pine Bluffs branch for an initial fee of $1.
LCLS Executive Director Antonia Gaona stated that this comes after decades of requests from Pine Bluffs locals to expand the branch library in the eastern Laramie County hamlet.
“We’ve heard for more than two decades that our Pine Bluffs library is insufficient,” Gaona stated Thursday during a presentation to the Cheyenne Kiwanis Club. “If you haven’t been to Pine Bluffs, it is a very small library.”
Unlike the Cheyenne facility, she claims the Pine Bluffs branch library lacks even one community meeting room, study space, or area for library activities, programming, or story time.
“Pine Bluffs is a vibrant community with lots going on. “They’ve told us we’re not meeting their needs,” she said.
The new address, 203 Main St., is near to the existing library. The building was originally built as a bank, but in recent years it has been mostly used as the Pine Bluffs Police Department’s offices.
When PBPD relocated to the town’s municipal facility, Pine Bluffs continued to run its food bank there.
LCLS purchased the building, which is barely 18 inches from the existing library, last week, and Gaona hopes to combine the two locations into one. However, this could be some time in the future.
Although the purchase was only $1, LCLS will still need to make some improvements to the property before moving into the new facility.
According to Gaona, this involves the installation of an ADA-compliant lavatory, an ADA-accessible doorway, safety railings on the stairs and balcony, as well as some HVAC and ventilation upgrades.
She presently does not know how much it will cost or how long it will take to complete.
In terms of eventually integrating the buildings, Gaona stated that LCLS has some grant money for consultants and would issue a request for proposals for architectural services to create early conceptual ideas to combine the two buildings into one seamless library.
