Minutes 02-12-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ken Redfoot said they backed off of that parking plan as they learned the parking requirements. Jeff Thompson said the third plan for meeting space with admin space is up to $1.3-1.5 million. He said this is because of the upgrade to office use and addition of wall space. Frank Clifton said the upfits that the arts group would require on soundproofing, curtains, additional chairs and stages would be paid for by the arts group with separate funding. Commissioner Gordon said when this was talked about before, she had two thoughts. These were put in writing and they are outlined in the blue attachment sheet quoted here: Commissioner Gordon's memo: All, The purpose of this email is to provide comments concerning item 2 on the February 12 work session agenda, "Conceptual Facilities Use Analysis and Presentation." 1. REVIEW OF FACILITY NEEDS The county has previously done studies concerning the space necessary to address long term county operational needs. The resulting reports included principles to guide the development of county facilities, a description of departmental space requirements, and recommendations concerning the types of facilities needed to address those departmental requirements. I believe we should review the county's current overall space needs in that same systematic way before we spend any money to renovate older facilities, construct new facilities, or decide to deconstruct or sell older facilities. This review, whether or not it is a "study," would provide a context for making an informed decision. 2. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' MEETING ROOM The location for a new meeting room is something the commissioners have discussed previously. It is my opinion that if we add a meeting room in Hillsborough, it should be as close to the center of other county operations in the town as possible. To me, that would mean locating it downtown at or near the east or west county campus. The parking deck is under- utilized, so there should be enough parking available downtown. Therefore I have suggested that we should consider an addition to the Link Center, if and when we could afford it. This addition could be a new 5000 square foot meeting room, located where the adjacent parking lot is located now. If the cost was $300 to $400 per square foot (as indicated in the November 13, 2012 work session), then the cost of a new meeting room would be about $1.5 million to $2.0 million. The statement attributed to me about requesting an analysis of placing a meeting facility at the Government Services Center Annex (GSA) site must have been a misunderstanding. I did not suggest that we should put a new 9800 square foot meeting facility at the GSA site. Instead, my recommendation related to the GSA was made in the context of another suggestion that we should deconstruct the GSA to make room for more parking. I stated that we should not deconstruct the GSA until we had an overall plan for county facilities, and then we could make a decision. I also stated that if we wanted to build a new meeting room at the Link Center, we would need to meet the Town of Hillsborough's zoning and other requirements, including