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The Park County Library Board has set aside a previous design for a renovated Powell Library, opting to bring on a new firm and a new design. Board members are now hoping to invite a small firm in …
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The Park County Library Board has set aside a previous design for a renovated Powell Library, opting to bring on a new firm and a new design. Board members are now hoping to invite a small firm in Washington that specializes in libraries for a site visit.
At a Park County Commission meeting July 5, library board members updated the commissioners on the effort to renovate and enlarge the Powell Library. The plan has been held up by funding concerns and, in the past, COVID-19, said board vice chair Geoff Baumann.
In 2021, using funds from the Park County Library Foundation, the county hired GSG Architecture of Sheridan to design improvements to the library. GSG’s design was formally revealed to the public last fall and library board Chair Pat Stuart said it was a good step in the process. However, Stuart said the county’s librarians found the floor plan “unsatisfying.”
After lengthy conversations with Johnston Architects LLC, Baumann said he determined the Seattle firm would be the right fit for the library design.
“Ray Johnston has a small firm with long experience of building large and small facilities. I’ve seen pictures of all, they’re really nice,” Baumann said. “He’s built or remodeled 36 different libraries. He prefers to work with local leaders, local companies, use local materials where possible.”
Baumann said Johnston has expressed an interest to come with an associate and visit Powell, seeing the facility and meeting with community and library board members. At the end of the limited contract, Johnston would present a preliminary report.
Baumann said the initial cost for the visit was quoted at $8,000 with additional office time to prepare the report, but the figure may be negotiable.
If the plan progresses, it’ll be the latest step in a process that, Stuart said, began in 2004 when the commission made a choice between two “decrepit libraries” and chose to redo Cody first. The recession hit as the new Cody Library opened in 2008 and a new or renovated building for Powell has been a question mark since.
Since the Powell Library first opened in 1930 to a town with a population of 1,156, the building has been expanded three times.
