Minutes 05-13-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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301 Developers have been welcoming in providing options for how the ownership and relationship would work. He said he would leave the specifics of this for a later conversation. Brian Ferrell said there is always a straight lease option, where the County is a tenant and the developer can continue doing what it has been doing on this site, developing different sections for different users. He said this would provide the County with some control of the space, but much less than that of ownership interest. He said ownership interest would mean moving to condominium interest, which is similar to the County's ownership in the Gateway Center. Brian Ferrell said parking would be a challenge, and it is important for the County to ensure that it has adequate rights in parking. He said ownership interest and tenancy will impact the rights with regard to parking. He said cost and control are also factors in these options. Commissioner porosin asked if there are more options beyond those two. Brian Ferrell said there is a fee option, where the County takes a fee and develops the property on its own. He does not believe this is a viable option because the developer wanted to develop more of this site. Commissioner porosin noted the developers' interest in the synergistic development of the whole area, and he asked if the County will be able to choose the builder if this site is chosen. Brian Ferrell said the County would retain control of that decision. Commissioner porosin asked if the County will be responsible for building the whole building as it is sketched out. Brian Ferrell said the County's interest is in the library and they would have the ability to control and build out their "pancake" and not the floors above it. He said the parking is a challenge, and the construction of this will have to be developed as the project moves forward. Commissioner porosin questioned whether it would be best to do all of the construction at once. Brian Ferrell said there is not a lot of room, and access restrictions dictate the construction schedule, so ideally it will all be built at once. Commissioner McKee asked what amount is included in the CIP for this project. Jeff Thompson said $8.8 million is in the current CIP. Chair Jacobs asked if there are any solutions for the visibility issue. He asked if anyone has talked to the Town regarding its sign standards. Jeff Thompson said the County is exempt from the sign sizing constraints from the Town, so signage can be large. He said the visibility is a weakness of the site, but there are opportunities with the building being iconic in design, and with the options of large oversized signs and way-finding features. Chris Garis presented slides with examples of potential solutions. He said there is iconic signage like that used at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham with the water tower. He said there are graphics from a very large scale and from a pedestrian scale that can provide a visual clue. He said there are many options, and these will be part of future discussions. Jeff Thompson said there have been preliminary conversations with the 300 East Main Street group regarding iconic signage and way-finding effects for the entire development. He said there was discussion about the apartment name being something related to the library. Chair Jacobs said he does not want to do anything that is energy intensive or light polluting. He asked who is going to provide the green space. Jeff Thompson said this will be a joint conversation with the developer, as the apartments have as much right to that ground as the library.