Updates from Director Amelia Shelley

Read Amelia's latest update on our current and planned building projects below, or follow the links to past reports. Conceptual drawings of the new Rifle Branch and the expanded Parachute Branch are at the bottom of the page. Amelia has also answered many Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about our building projects.

View photos of our current projects in Rifle and Parachute.

April 2010 Update

The Rifle Branch Library is making great progress. We are in the process of placing the precast walls for the parking structure alongside the cast-in-place walls that were poured in March. Soon we will pour the topping slab and the rest of the parking lot. The whole thing will be wrapped up in June when we will close the parking lot in front of City Hall to begin work on the civic plaza.

The library is also coming right along, with framing starting this week and almost all of the concrete work completed. The Library District received a generous donation from the Encana Corporation for the two natural gas boilers that will heat the new building and those units were delivered to us in mid-April. The District is also in the process of selecting a vendor for solar panels for the Rifle site; we are hoping to have up to 50 kW of photovoltaic to help offset our electrical costs. The solar panels will be paid for in part through a Garfield New Energy Communities Initiative grant that came from the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) and the Governor’s Energy Office.

The District is seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification for the facility which means it will use less energy than conventional buildings its size, the construction practices include recycling and minimal environmental impact, and future monitoring of energy usage will follow stringent guidelines for energy efficiency. LEED includes things such as ensuring that the building makes the best use of natural light, that we employ energy saving practices such as metering, that lighting includes the use of compact fluorescent and LED fixtures, and that we seek to educate the community of the energy efficient attributes of the facility. Full information about the LEED aspects of the building will be featured at a kiosk in the new lobby. We will move into the facility in October with an opening set for early November.

Parachute “lapped” Rifle recently in that the project got ahead of Rifle in terms of the construction schedule. Parachute will open in late summer and now has a complete roof and is mostly framed in and ready for drywall. We recently hosted a “sneak peek” and got rave reviews on the building’s layout and design elements. We are working on a 10 kW solar installation on the east side of the park as a solar demonstration area. We are beginning the process of “tagging” the Parachute collection in early May for RFID (radio frequency identification) that will allow for self-checkout, automated materials handling, and improved security. We will make the move to the new building in early August.

If you are interested in a naming opportunity in association with either of these projects, I encourage you to contact me to set up a meeting. Donations are being accepted for various furnishings and upgrades as well as naming opportunities for meeting rooms. Contact me by email at ashelley@marmot.org or call me at 970-625-4270 to discuss our donor program. I welcome your comments and support!

-Amelia Shelley, Executive Director

Past Building Updates

March 2010 

February 2010

November 2009 

September 2009 

June 2009

Conceptual Drawings of the Rifle and Parachute Branches

Drawing of the new Rifle Branch Library as seen looking northwest from East Avenue.

Drawing of the new Rifle Branch Library and Civic Plaza, looking east from Railroad Avenue. Rifle City Hall is on the left, on the north side of the plaza.

Drawing of the expanded Parachute Branch Library, looking from the southeast.