Agenda - 12-15-1987 - Laserfiche WebLink

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- 2 - B. A sattelite center was proposed for the East Chapel Hill area, to be built as an addition to the Community Building on Estes Drive and constructed jointly with the Town of Chapel Hill. This project was submitted in res- ponse to the great and rapid increase in the population of older persons in the area near that location and their needs for activities accessible to them. Judging by reports from churches located in the area there is a rapidly growing need for space for meetings and group activities which at present are entirely self-directed and don't require staff. Also, the facilities for swimming and other forms of exercise make the Community Building very valuable from the standpoint of health promotion. While the space for Senior activities in the Southern Orange Human Services Complex will have the capability to provide services for the older people in that area provided adequate transportation services are in place, it seems to the ABA that the present rate of growth indicates that both the space in the Complex and one or even more new sattelites will be needed before the five year span of the CIP is completed. Just as with the Efland Center, the ABA urges that the Commission explore the possibility of including this project in the CIP. 3. Finally, the ABA respectfully requests that on future occasions when plans and budgets are developed, there be room in the calendar for consideration by the board which acts as an adviser to the Commission for this department (and we would think also other departments.) It is our estimate that we need two months for the Board to look at what the staff proposes alongside the goals and mission of the department to arrive at our recommendations. We think the Commission has been very wise in establishing citizen groups like the ABA to attempt to feed in to the decision-making process the opinions about service needs for segments of the county population representating different geographic locations, races, genders and income groups. It takes time for the board members to make accurate assessments of the public's view of particular proposals, and whether citizens are prepared to support expenditures. We regard the time for the Board to deal with plans and budget as crucial to our advisory function and urge that the planning calendars in future be developed with this in mind. On behalf of the Board, let me thank you for this opportunity to present these comments for your attention.