Lighting the way for library’s Phase 3

       Seven new lights are shining onto the Old Colorado City Library parking lot.

Two of the seven new lights in the parking lot of the Old Colorado City Library catch the rays of the late afternoon sun Jan. 19. Matching the streetlights on Colorado Avenue, the lights were installed last week as part of the third and last phase of the library's preservation project that started in 2004. The other two elements of Phase 3 will be new landscaping and an improved book drop.
Westside Pioneer photo

       Styled after the historic-style Colorado Avenue streelights that went in three years ago, the new fixtures replace aging units that dated back to the '70s, according to Library Manager Jocelyne Sansing.
       Another favorable aspect of the new lights is that their beam is mostly aimed downwards so that the parking lot will be better illuminated while there's less glare directed at the neighboring houses, she said. “We'd heard some complaints about that,” she added.
       The project marks the start of the third and last phase of the library's preservation project. which had begun in synchronization with the Carnegie building's 100th anniversary in 2004. Still to come this year are an improved parking-lot bookdrop and new landscaping in front of the building that will include low-water plantings and educational paths, Sansing said.
       Aided by an intensive fundraising campaign, Phases 1 and 2 cost $1.2 million and included new windows, structural improvements, updated mechanical systems, an elevator and interior remodeling so major that it required the facility to shut down for half of 2007.

This former library parking lot light was one of those replaced with the new version in the photo at left.
Westside Pioneer file photo

       Sansing said that Phase 3, costing about $26,000 in all, will mainly use funds left over from the first two phases.
       The Colorado Avenue streetlights resulted from an effort of several years by the Old Colorado City Security & Maintenance District in partnership with Springs Utilities.
       Note: Sansing, who was recently married, had previously gone by her maiden name (Bodden).

Westside Pioneer article