Washington Public Library celebrates LEED certification for new facility on Feb. 6th

The Washington Free Public Library will celebrate earning LEED Certification for its new facility on the south side of the Washington town square. The event will be Monday, February 6th from 5:30-6:00pm in the upstairs Nicola-Stoufer & Washington State Bank meeting rooms. The meeting is hosted by Librarian Debbie Stanton.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design."

The new facility opened in October, 2009 and is a tremendous cultural anchor for the community and the downtown. The Library moved 2 blocks from where it had been located for over 100 years. The Washington Library Foundation and Library Board started planning for a new facility in 2005 after receiving a significant estate donation from David Elder.

The facility was designed through a public planning process facilitated by OPN Architects of Cedar Rapids.

The $6 million facility was funded by many local donations, a $1.2M city bond, a $1M grant from the Washington County Riverboat Foundation, and a Vision Iowa/Community Attractions and Tourism grant.

The Washington Library is one of two LEED Certified buildings in Washington County, Iowa. The other one is the Wellman Parkside Activites Center, which opened in January, 2010.