Is there new life for the recently closed Rockrimmon Library?

After an October vote to close the Rockrimmon Library that was met with community protests, the Pikes Peak Library District Board of Trustees is now scheduled to consider renewing the facility’s lease during Wednesday’s meeting, according to the board’s meeting agenda.

The board will vote whether to renew the lease for one year, by either using the Oct. 16 lease agreement or by entering a new one, according to the meeting agenda. The lease would be paid by the district and offset by the funds collected by the “Save Rockrimmon Library” organization, about $70,000 in the past month.

The library had permanently closed Sunday. More than 100 children to seniors who support Save Rockrimmon Library gathered Saturday inside the building in a strip mall at 832 Village Center Drive to make signs, write their name and messages on large banners, and move outside to participate in a “Not Saying Goodbye” rally and protest in front of the facility.

Working off a new facilities plan that recommended closing some of the system’s 15 branches for financial reasons, the library district’s board of trustees voted 5-2 at an Oct. 16 meeting not to renew the lease of the Rockrimmon Library, which opened in 1989 in northwestern Colorado Springs.

Armed with a pending lawsuit, the backing of some Colorado Springs City Council members, one incoming county commissioner, and a few members of the Pikes Peak Library District board of trustees, the Save Rockrimmon Library group has advanced from a loose movement to a nonprofit organization, COS Ready, and is ready to see its views prevail, said Katherine “Kat” Gayle, a local attorney who also is with Integrity Matters and Westside Watch, local groups that hold leaders accountable for issues that they believe are unjust.

In recent weeks, the group has put pressure on elected city and county officials to try to force leaders of the Pikes Peak Library District, an independent taxing entity, to reverse its decision.

The group wants the library board to vote to reverse the decision and keep the site open for at least a year while “exploring all options,” Gayle said.

The board has the option of holding a special meeting sometime this month, after its regular meeting on Wednesday, which could include an action item regarding fate of the Rockrimmon branch. The lease ends Dec. 31, but the location was shuttered Saturday to give employees time to relocate its contents, library officials said.