Agenda - 04-23-2013 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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9 1 Jeff Thompson, referring to the map for 401 Fidelity, said one of the concerns with this 2 property is the work needed to build so close to the adjoining cemetery. He referenced large 3 rock outcroppings that necessitate more work to prepare the site and he reviewed the 4 conceptual map. With regard to 1128 Hillsborough, he noted that the area outlined in red on 5 the map (the Shetley property) is property currently for sale and the area outlined in blue is the 6 Martin Luther King Junior Park site. Combining the two properties together offers the most 7 promise in siting. The Shetley property has limitations such as limited road access but when 8 combined with the park property there is road frontage and visibility if the library could be 9 placed on the park property. He said that this will require partnership with Carrboro and will 10 give plenty of area for synergy between the park and library. He said that there may be some 11 difficulties with wet areas. 12 Chair Jacobs said he talked with Mayor Chilton today. He referred to the letter on page 13 10 of the abstract for item 7-b and read the following paragraph: 14 "the Carrboro Board would also like to continue discussions with the Orange County Board of 15 Commissioners, regarding the County's siting criteria. The purpose of this discussion would be 16 to reevaluate the criteria in order for consideration of additional sites in planned and approved 17 mixed-use projects in downtown Carrboro..." 18 Chair Jacobs said Mayor Chilton made some suggestions about some sites and made it clear 19 he had some sense of what his board was interested in. Chair Jacobs said Mayor Chilton 20 expressed desire for continued conversation regarding other potential sites. He suggested 21 some receptivity on the idea of partnering with Carrboro on looking at other projects in the 22 works. 23 Commissioner Rich said she had spoken to some Aldermen, who expressed the same 24 sentiment as the Mayor. She also asked why there is an effort to build a 20,000 sq ft single 25 level facility in the Town of Carrboro. 26 Frank Clifton said it is not a library for Carrboro but will provide library services 27 throughout that portion of Orange County. He said the problem with Orange County property is 28 that there are no adequate utilities, so the current plans look at the town's area with utilities. 29 He said the county currently operates a part time library at McDougle Elementary that is closed 30 during the day and open on evenings and weekends. He said this limits the activities of the 31 library. He said that there have been many locations looked at, including along Highway 54 and 32 other areas. He said that the 20,000 square foot plan comes from past studies and allows for 33 all basic library services as well as meeting space and area for children's activities. 34 Commissioner Rich noted that, according to Frank Clifton, the library studies were done 35 years ago. She said it is her opinion that the Board needs to think into the future and not build 36 yesterday's library. She noted that there is a there is a new expanded library opening in Chapel 37 Hill next month. She expressed concern about the plan and said that as Carrboro brings forth 38 options for siting the library, the Board needs to consider not building yesterday's library. 39 Chair Jacobs said he was on all three library task forces, and Orange County created 40 the Cybrary and Carrboro provided the space for this cybrary in the Century Center free of 41 charge. He noted that this was a nationally award winning collaboration and one of the first 42 places where people could come exclusively to use computers and magazines to access the 43 library services. He said that the library services task force report that is referred to 44 recommends a 43,000 square foot central library and a smaller 20,000 square foot branch 45 library. He noted that the County has a 23,000 square foot central library, so a concomitantly 46 sized branch library might be considerably smaller than 20,000 square feet. He said this board 47 has never decided what size of branch library they would like to build and this is a concept 48 based on a report relating to a standard in place ten years ago. He said the Board may want to 49 wait on the results of the library strategic plan before deciding on size.