New Clifton Branch Project

A new Clifton Branch Library – containing more space and features than the existing branch – will be an exciting addition to the Clifton community!

Mesa County Libraries plan to build a free-standing library of up to 20,000 square feet (more than three times the size of the current Clifton Branch) that would offer a wide array of services, from community rooms and adult-learning classrooms to larger areas for children and teens.

In 2017, the library district bought a five-acre parcel along F Road as a site for a new library. Community meetings and preliminary design and construction planning were underway when Mesa County offered the library an alternative location as part of a proposed county community center campus to be built near 32½ and D½ roads, adjacent to Rocky Mountain Elementary School in Clifton.

The proposed D 1/2 Road location offers several benefits for the library, including:

• Proximity to a large neighborhood and elementary schools
• Better property configuration for more flexibility in building design
• More parking availability
• Location along a road that is less busy and safer than F Road
• The ability to incorporate design concepts and data from preliminary work on the F Road location into the new location.

Discussions between the library district and Mesa County are ongoing, and a final decision on the location has not been made. If the project moves to the D½ Road location, the library plans to sell the F Road property.

Regardless of the eventual location, Mesa County Libraries remain steadfast in the desire to build a new library serving Clifton. Clifton-area residents want and deserve a right-sized, comfortable library that offers a wide variety of services onsite.

The Clifton Branch is the second-busiest library location in Mesa County, second only to the Central Library in downtown Grand Junction. At 5,400 square feet, the current facility is far too small to adequately serve the 20,000+ residents who live in the branch’s service area, and its replacement is a top goal for Mesa County Libraries.

Because the project is in the negotiation and planning stages, there is not yet a firm cost estimate. Construction would be funded – without a tax increase – by a mix of library district capital funds and monies raised through a capital campaign run by the Mesa County Libraries Foundation.