AGENDA #6
TO: Roger L. Stancil, Town Manager
FROM: Bruce A. Heflin, Assistant Town Manager
Ray L. “Butch” Kisiah, Director of Parks & Recreation
SUBJECT: Report on the Use of the Post Office/Courthouse Building
DATE: February 11, 2008
This report responds to a request from Town Council to evaluate a request from the Kidzu Children’s Museum concerning possible use of the Post Office/Courthouse as space for the museum.
The Kidzu Children’s Museum has stated that they have outgrown their current location on Franklin Street. Kidzu petitioned the Town Council on January 3, 2007 for use of most of the floor area of 179 E. Franklin Street (Old Post Office Building) and possibly the rooftop of the Wallace Parking Deck. In June 2007, the Town Council referred their request to the staff to work with the museum regarding their space needs and to provide the Council with a recommendation responding to their request. The Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership provided a report to the Council that advocated keeping the museum downtown and suggested the use of the Post Office/Courthouse space. In subsequent discussions, Kidzu organizers also proposed adding an expansion to 179 E. Franklin Street that would encompass the lot directly behind this building.
Town staff has met with Cathy Maris, Director and Jonathan Mills, Board Chairman of the Museum to discuss the museum’s interest in the subject property and to better define their space needs. In those discussions, we learned that the Museum board desires to have the Town agree to the use of the old Post Office building by Kidzu within the next 2 – 4 years. This would give the museum an opportunity to begin activities to raise funds to renovate the building and to construct an addition.
The key points of our discussions with the museum are summarized below.
The Kidzu Children’s museum is requesting the following from the Town:
Current Uses of the Building and Related Areas
Post Office
The U. S. Postal Service leases 3,000 square feet of building space from the Town plus approximately 370 square feet on the loading dock in the back of the building and the use of 1,500 square feet of parking and maneuvering room in the parking lot with three specified parking spaces. The lease pays $15,140.00 per year and expires on August 14, 2014.
In the past, having a post office
on Franklin Street was considered a high priority of the
Town.
District Court
The District Court operates in the courthouse portion of the building and in adjacent offices and other areas, and has six parking spaces behind the building for court, Sheriff’s Deputy and District Attorney employees. The Court also reserves six parking spaces along Henderson Street. The court has increased its use of the facility in the past approximately nine months while the main courthouse in Hillsborough is being renovated, meeting several times per week for traffic, criminal and magistrate’s court. Most of the criminal and traffic cases involve Chapel Hill police officers. The renovation is scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2009.
Teen Center
The Teen center leases approximately 2,400 square feet of space in the basement of the building. The Town does not charge the Teen center for its occupancy. The current lease expired on June 30, 2007 and may be renewed with the approval of the Town Manager. The Teen Center continues to operate under the conditions of the old lease pending the renewal. Either party may terminate the lease with one hundred and twenty days notice.
Project Turn Around
Project Turnaround, a diversion program for first-time drug offenders (both juvenile and adult), meets in the basement of the building three nights per week. Each group serves 12 to 20 participants.
Town Archives
Part of the basement of the Post Office/Courthouse serves as archival storage for several Town departments.
Trash Compactor
The Town operates a waste compactor at the rear of the building that serves a number of businesses along Franklin, Rosemary and Henderson Streets. The compactor was installed when the Wallace Parking Deck was constructed and there is no other practical method of waste collection for the participating buildings.
Plaza on Wallace Deck
The plaza on the top of the Wallace Parking Deck is a Town park. It is used irregularly for programmed events.
Town Space Needs
The Town is currently involved in a space needs study that is analyzing our current and future uses of Town-owned property and the specific needs for space and adjacencies of Town operations. The results of the study are anticipated in the next few months.
We know, though, without the benefit of the professional analysis, that the Town is in significant need of additional spaces and/or improved spaces for its operations, especially office space. Current examples are the need to rent office space for the Stormwater Division of the Engineering Department and the conversion of storage closets into offices for Human Resources Development, Communications and Public Affairs and Planning Department staff. In addition, we have been unable to find office space for planned additions of full- and part-time staff in Information Technology, Planning and the Manager’s office (the latter due to current part-time staff occupying spaces in other departments where vacancies are being filled).
We believe we face the prospect of needing to relocate some or all of the Library’s operations for at least some part of the time required for the upcoming building expansion. In addition, we know we have space constraints and inadequate facilities for the Police, Fire and Parks and Recreation Departments.
The Town currently has the Old Town Hall occupied by the Inter-Faith Council for its homeless men’s shelter and the old library building occupied by the Chapel Hill Museum.
Given our unmet needs for building space, we do not believe it would be in the Town’s interests to provide the use of another Town owned building to a non-Town user, especially under the terms requested by the Kidzu Museum. We believe if the Council wishes to displace the Post Office and District Court and Teen Center from the Post Office/Courthouse building, that another Town use should be considered in their stead.
We also suggest that, given the Town’s budget constraints in the current year and those likely to be encountered in the next few years, that it would be difficult to find funding to assist the Kidzu Museum in either renovating the building or providing significant operating assistance. The Council could consider any specific funding request from Kidzu during its deliberations on the 2008-09 budget.
We recommend that the Town Parks and Recreation staff offer assistance to the Museum as appropriate in evaluating other locations and in assisting them in possible joint programming efforts as they arise.
We support the idea of allowing Kidzu programs and activities on the plaza of the Wallace Deck. We would be interested in working with the Museum staff to find ways to cooperate in that regard, including some limited physical changes to the plaza if needed.
CONCLUSION
Due to the unmet needs for Town building space and the historically high priority the Council and the community have placed on having a post office on Franklin Street, we cannot recommend that the Council grant the Kidzu request for the use of the Post Office/Courthouse building.