Minutes - 20070130 - Laserfiche WebLink

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there is a de facto decision that there is na roam foramen's shelter. He is not ready to make that decision yet. Also, regarding the post office, he agrees that there will be a shift towards Homestead Road, but he also thinks that the walkable part of Chapel Hill will still be downtown and justice facilities are significantly different than the other services provided on Homestead Road. He is inclined to study this further before giving up an the building as a justice facilities alternative, understanding that Chapel Hill must be a partner. If Chapel Hill is not interested, there is no point in going forward. He said that he was impressed by the space at the post office. He would like to at least acknowledge the men's shelter and Laura Blackmon said that they did not address the men's shelter. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the old Orange Enterprises building and said that it sounds like a good idea. His reservation has to do with the Kidscope program at Hillsborough Elementary, which may not be able to remain there. One of the options was moving it to the OE building. If Kidscope does not move there, then they need to nail down a contract with the school district about it staying at one of the schools. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the Whitted Building and said that he is concerned about where Mental Health would go. Pam Janes said that the Department on Aging department will be moving out of Northside, which will free up space far Mental Health. Commissioner Jacobs asked for more information on this. Commissioner Jacobs said that he has similar concerns about the Heritage Center. The County is building a 23,000-square foot library as the central library. He said that Chapel Hill's library is 27,000 square feet, and it is adding 45,000 square feet. He said that he is concerned about where the Heritage Center will be located. He would like some surety that there is a good alternative. He said that the Library Board only meets quarterly, so there was not a recommendation about this. He said that it would be a shame to take a beautiful two-story public space and make it into offices. He would argue that if the decisions are going to be phased based on what is feasible and haw much money there is, etc., that same of the pending issues should be resolved before making decisions. Laura Blackmon said that she was looking at core County functions, sa if there is space far the other groups, then she needs direction from the Board. Commissioner Gordon agreed with co-locating departments with similar functions and getting rid of leased space. Regarding the Homestead Campus, she said that her understanding is that there are two basic building sites -the Seymour Center and the Southern Human Services Center, and there is building space between these two buildings. She said that she read that this space between was going to be needed by one or the other or both as they expanded, so that the site will be used for the human services needs. She asked if this was correct and Laura Blackmon said yes. The other site is where the little white house is, and justice facilities can go here. She thinks that it will be difficult to get any funding partners far justice facilities because the County has a statutory responsibility to provide this function. She said that she likes the Manager's analysis because it follows the County Commissioners' principles that were stated in the space needs study and it will save the County money in the tang run. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the meeting space and said that if the Government Services Center has the best meeting space, then that is fine but she is concerned about the retrofitting of this facility. It would mean we would be converting old offices to new meeting space at the same time we are building new office space. Commissioner Nelson said that meeting core County needs is right on target and he appreciated the way Laura Blackmon laid out the information. He has concerns about the justice facilities and he needs more time to tour the post office. He thinks that