AGENDA #7c

 

BUDGET WORKING PAPER

 

TO:                  W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

 

FROM:            Kathryn Spatz, Director of Parks & Recreation

 

SUBJECT:      Formal Notice from School System Regarding Long Term Use of Lincoln Center

 

DATE:             April 30, 2003 

 

 

This memorandum is in response to a Council member’s question concerning whether or not the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School System has given written direction that the Lincoln Center lease will not be renewed.

 

The Town currently has a 30 year agreement with the Chapel Hill/Carrboro City School System with regard to use and maintenance of several facilities and fields, including the Lincoln Center space currently used as a pottery studio. The lease expires in 2007. The Chapel Hill/Carrboro City School System has not given formal written notice that the space will not be available for Town use at the conclusion of the lease period.

 

Several years ago, the City School System initiated a Head Start program at the Lincoln Center and asked the Town to return the pottery studio space for the school program. Eventually the area was divided into two rooms, one for the Head Start program and the remaining area for the pottery program. Since 1998, staff members from the school system have advised the Parks and Recreation Department staff that the remainder of the pottery studio space would eventually be needed for the Head Start program.  

 

We are aware that improvements to the Lincoln Center are not currently included in the City School System’s 10 year Capital Improvement Program and we believe there may be potential for continued use of the space for the Town’s pottery program for some time beyond the end of the current agreement. However, based on our conversations with school system staff, we do not believe that the Town will be able to secure a long term use of the facility.