Agenda - 10-15-2013 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

10 1 Commissioner Rich said the Brewer site fits into a lot of criteria. She said she 2 wants to keep this an urban library, and she keeps hearing this from others as well. Her 3 current preference is for the Brewer Lane property. 4 Commissioner Pelissier said she prefers the Brewer Lane site too; however there 5 need to be multiple sites for the public to compare and discuss. She still has concerns 6 about the Hillsborough Road site because this would require conditional use re-zoning. 7 She noted that if Carrboro were building a library it would not need re-zoning, and she 8 asked why Orange County has to have it. 9 Jeff Thompson said when staff says yes to a site this is just part of the technical 10 phase. He said the technical site overview is not just about engineering, but it also 11 includes planning and zoning, and it takes about 60 days. 12 Commissioner McKee said he has no particular objections to any of these sites. 13 He does have a concern about the Brewer site's lack of visibility and accessibility. He 14 also has a concern about the shift in the discussion from building a County library for 15 Orange County residents in the southern part of the County, to a focus on building a 16 Carrboro town library. 17 Commissioner Price said her concerns are similar to Commissioner McKee's. 18 She thought this was for the southwest region of the County. She said, when it is time 19 for public input, all of the sites need to be presented, along with the applicable pros and 20 cons. 21 Commissioner Rich said she does not think the Brewer site is a problem. She 22 said her intention is to build a County branch library in an urban setting in Carrboro. She 23 feels this is a unique setting, and it is a step in the progression of what a branch library 24 should look like. She feels this should be brought back to the public before spending 25 $15,000 on a site that may not be used. 26 Chair Jacobs said the Fidelity Street site is owned by Carrboro. He asked if 27 Carrboro intends to give it to the county. 28 Frank Clifton said the town board has not officially said that, but it is on the table 29 for consideration. 30 Chair Jacobs said the county has three sites and then one that needs Carrboro's 31 collaboration. He this means there are multiple options to take to the public. He said 32 there are some urban and some suburban. He said that it may turn out that one site is 33 superior, but this cannot be pre-determined. He said, bringing people to Brewer Lane 34 will enhance the economic development in Carrboro, which will benefit Orange County. 35 Chair Jacobs said, if there are too many sites, this will confuse people. He said 36 the County has set expectation levels too high in the past with regard to what kind of 37 facility this will be. He said the Board wants to be clear that the County is not going to 38 duplicate the Chapel Hill library. He said the goal is to establish a library that serves the 39 southwest portion of the county and does not duplicate either central library. He said 40 these criteria should be established before this goes to the public so that there are 41 realistic expectations. 42 Chair Jacobs reviewed the Boards' thoughts thus far. He said there are 3 sites 43 that need to be investigated. He said the library is to be a branch library and public 44 expectations need to be tamped down to a realistic level. He said it needs to be 45 stressed that this library is to serve a specific segment of Orange County. 46 Frank Clifton clarified that all of these sites were recommended by the Town of 47 Carrboro. 48 Commissioner Gordon said it seems that the Board discussion is converging on 49 three sites. She said she is encouraged by the fact that Carrboro seems most favorably 50 disposed to Brewer Lane. She said it would be $30-$40,000 to investigate these 51 properties. 52 Frank Clifton said staff needs to sit down with the developer before the technical 53 reviews are done on each site and before the site is put before the public.