Agenda - 09-05-2013 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

15 1 Jeff Thompson gave background in the interview and selection process. He said eleven firms 2 responded, five were interviewed, and MBAJ was chosen. He said the schedule is to move forward to have 3 a residential advisory board begin working on design of the facility with a goal of construction beginning 4 next summer. 5 6 PUBLIC COMMENT: 7 8 Sheila Van Hook McDonald said she speaks on behalf of descendants of Mary Benson, land owner 9 and originator of Cedar Grove Elementary School. She said their concerns center around the lack of 10 outreach to the community regarding the demolition and renovation of this property. She said that the text 11 of the mailing says that a citizen group will be involved in the planning process, but she questions whether 12 this group will involve members of the community who are passionately connected to the cause. 13 She would like this matter to be tabled until there has been communication with the community. 14 She understands that there is design indicating a reduction of the property from 37,000 square feet to 15 10,000 square feet. She said the community is concerned. 16 Hattie Van Hook lives within walking distance to the Northern Human Services Center. She 17 questions whether it is more cost effective to renovate and remodel rather than to demolish. 18 Camille White asked what work the Board of County Commissioners or designers will start on June 19 17tn 20 Jacqueline McConnell lives in Cedar Grove and she loved the Cedar Grove Library when it was 21 there. She said she is pleased that there is discussion of creating something else. She asked what will be 22 different now from the staffing, cost, and safety reasons that closed the library. She asked if these issues 23 have been addressed in the process of planning the new facility. She asked how the community service 24 center would differ from a library, and how it would be used. She said she is hopeful that the advisory 25 committee will work with the Commissioners to find a use for the facility, but it feels like a lot of money to 26 throw at something without a real plan. She asked what the design group is planning and what the vision is 27 for the facility's purpose. 28 Bonnie Hauser said she strongly supports another community center in Cedar Grove; however there 29 are fundamental questions that still need to be answered. She respectfully requests the Board put the 30 design on hold until there is a plan. She said there should be defined services before there is a design for 31 the building. She said there is nothing included in the plan regarding basic library, internet service, social 32 services or senior services that many residents expect to see. She said that it is unclear that this will be a 33 service at all. She said this building is triple the cost of the Rogers Road Community Center and the library 34 in Cedar Grove was just shut down due to lack of funding. She is especially concerned about the lack of 35 publicity for a project that is so large and important to the community. She said important stakeholders are 36 not involved. She asked that the design contract be put on hold and take the time to clarify a plan for a true 37 service center for this rural community. She said the Efland community should also be involved, as their 38 center has been de-funded and is underutilized. She asked for a clear picture of the hours of operation, 39 staffing and maintenance cost for the facility. She asked that the budget be limited to 2 million dollars. 40 Jeff Thompson said the work that starts on June 18, will be the design programming phase. He 41 said there was vision planning with the community in the spring and fall of 2012' and this brought the Board 42 to the decision point in November to work on the 10,000 square foot design. He said the programming 43 during those sessions included most of the services that have been discussed tonight- library, internet, 44 community meeting space, recreation space and kitchen space. He said the first phase of the design is to 45 take this information and meet with the resident advisory group, which includes members of the community 46 meetings. He said these programming meetings will be open to the public, frequent, and held in the 47 evenings. He said that all of that programming information happening over the summer months will then be 48 applied to the schematic designs presented in the fall. 49 Chair Jacobs said there has been discussion about the advisory group and the consensus was that 50 anyone who comes to the meetings can participate in the discussion. This is why there is no recommended 51 number; the current list contains the names of people who have already volunteered. 52 Commissioner McKee said some of the people that signed up to be on the informal design group 53 are here tonight. He said this group is also open to others who are interested. He confirmed with Jeff 54 Thompson that this resident design committee will be involved from the beginning of the process.