AGENDA #4i

 

BUDGET WORKING PAPER

 

TO:                  W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

 

FROM:            Kathryn Spatz, Director of Parks and Recreation

 

SUBJECT:       Potential to Use Basement of Chapel Hill Museum for Parks and Recreation Activities

 

DATE:             April 2, 2003   

 

 

This memorandum is in response to a Council member’s question concerning the potential use of the basement of the Chapel Hill Museum for Parks and Recreation Department activities.

 

The Town currently has a 10-year lease with the Chapel Hill Museum for use of the entire old Chapel Hill Library building located at 523 East Franklin Street. The lease will expire on September 3, 2006. The lease agreement specifies that the lease shall be “renewable for a subsequent ten-year term upon Town Council approval. The Museum shall give the Town Manager notice in writing of its desire to enter into a subsequent ten-year lease at least 180 days before expiration of the term.”

 

The lease agreement terms permit the Museum to sublease portions of the building, with the approval of the Town Manager. The Chapel Hill Museum has leased the basement of the building to the Historical Society. There does not appear to be additional space available for parks and recreation programming at this time.

 

The lower level of the old Chapel Hill Library building is approximately 6,000 square feet, although we believe that a portion of the area is not suitable for programming space. If it became available in 2006, the approximately 4,500 square feet suitable for programming space could certainly be used for community meeting space and recreation classes.

 

The current pottery programming space is 2,000 square feet. We believe that the lower level of the building located at 523 East Franklin Street could be converted to a pottery studio, however it would require extensive modifications to the ventilation system due to the nature of the program and use of kilns.