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Email Director Jennifer Roup: Director@aclibrary.net
Frequently Asked Questions:
Where will the RP library operate during construction?
- During construction, the Rock Port branch will temporarily relocate to the Farm Bureau building on Hwy. 136 and Main Street (formerly Midwest Chic Boutique). The temporary library will continue to offer books, free Wi-Fi, computer access, printing, and customer service. While the book collection will be limited, new arrivals and popular titles will be available and can be easily transferred to and from other locations upon request.
• Why tear down the old buildings? Can’t you renovate them instead?
- Our current library was built in 1851. Although plans were developed in 2018 for a front-facing rebuild, they were not implemented. As a result, the issues that arose six years ago persist. A 2018 structural evaluation recommended a complete replacement of the existing roof, rafters, east front entry framing, and facade. The western side of the roof and roof framing has sustained significant water damage. A full rebuild was ultimately recommended.
• Where exactly is the new building going?
- In July 2024, the Atchison County Library acquired the lots between the library and Midwest Data Center, formerly housing a dentist’s office, an art studio space, and Cedar Bluff Lodge (previously known as The Opp Hotel, built in 1898). The new building will occupy approximately 8,000 square feet on the blocks of Mill and Main streets.
• Will my taxes increase due to this new building?
- No. The library will not propose an increase in the tax levy to secure funding. The project will be financed through an existing building operations fund and donations.
I have heard that there is a natural spring and flooding issues underneath the library and Opp Hotel. Is that going to be a problem?
Answered provided by Aaron Stutterheim, A.I.A. Architect, Creal Clark & Seifert Architects/Engineers Inc.
The Opp and the and neighboring building both have basements, and our understanding is that water will only come in during a rain for both of those. This leads us to think that no continuous spring is flowing into those basements. Instead, it sounds more likely that it would be ground water flow only at the time of a rain, and it may even be a matter of needing better surface water management around the buildings. For the new library building we will be taking an approach of managing surface water and using waterproofing methods for the construction of the basement. Here is a list of the design strategies that we will be implementing:
-Directing rainwater from the new library roof to drain towards Main Street.
-Directing the landscaping around the new library to drain towards Main Street.
-We will be running piping under the new Main Street sidewalk in-order to accomplish the above 2 strategies.
-At the new library basement walls, we are designing it to have PVC water stops at all concrete joints.
-Towards the outside of the new library basement walls we are calling for a waterproof coating to be applied.
-We will also call for drain tile to be placed around the basement walls and drainage piping under the basement slab.
-All drain tile and drainage piping will be directed to a sump pit that is onsite, but away from the basement.
-The sump pit will have a sump pump and a backup sump pump.
-The sump pumps will drain towards the combined sanitary sewer and storm piping under Mill Street.
All the above strategies are managing water outside of the basement walls and floors. In addition, they are using waterproofing construction methods for the basement walls and floors. We like to think of this as a kind of belt and suspenders approach, where if one system fails another will act as a backup.
During the demolition of the Opp, we will look at the demolition pit to see if there is continuous water flow into it. We think that this is unlikely. If it is the case and the construction site for the new library would need to be de-watered then at that point, we need to talk about maybe not having the basement. For some context, de-watering a site is where temporary wells have to be placed around the excavation pit during construction in-order to keep a construction pit from filling up with water. We think this is unlikely to be the case since the Opp only has water problems during a rain.
