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Approved 1/11/2016 OC Board of Adjustment – 11/9/15 Page 14 of 48 we’ll keep as much as we possibly can intact, so that’s very important to me. 1 2 Sharron Linn: And can you tell us just a little bit about your project, the barn? 3 4 Kara Brewer: Sure. So the actual project itself when I first started thinking about this project, originally when I was looking for a 5 location I was hopeful that maybe I could find an old structure or old barn in Chapel Hill that I could renovate. However, there just 6 wasn’t anything like it that met my criteria. So, probably about a year, year and a half ago now, I met with Heritage Restorations. 7 Heritage Restorations is a company based out of Texas and what they do is they find old barns and they take them down and they 8 rebuild them on their clients’ property. So in my conversations with Heritage the work they do is absolutely beautiful. I went down 9 to Texas to see some of their barn homes and barn event centers and they’ve just been really helpful during the process. They 10 have an in-house architectural staff, who were very helpful as we were planning the barn, they made a lot of great suggestions 11 because they’ve done this sort of thing before. My barn in particular is from Marcy, New York. It was built in the early 1860’s, so 12 the process that occurs is that on my property I put down my foundation. Heritage takes down the barn and then they come to the 13 property and they put the historic barn frame on top of the foundation so, what they are able to salvage is just this really beautiful 14 antique, very heavy timber frame that go up into the foundation. And then the new portion is stilted on that so there is new kitchen 15 and bathrooms in the back. I think there was a question earlier about a loft area; yes, there is a loft area that’s use is specifically 16 for the bridal party, to get ready and that will not be in use during events. 17 18 Michael Harvey: If I can interrupt real quick. The bio has been supplied to the Board and Mr. Rooks. It is applicant exhibit 4. 19 Thank you. 20 21 Sharron Linn: And Kara, why did you choose this specific property as the site? 22 23 Kara Brewer: Right, so I had looked at probably, over the course of 2 years, 20-30 properties. Walking different ones. When we 24 came across this particular property, it’s just a beautiful property. And like I said, the size itself was very important to me, the fact 25 that it is 22 acres, it allows for me to have very private events in the middle of the property and that was important to me. It’s 26 important to clients and also I think that will benefit the neighbors as well. 27 28 Sharron Linn: And what kind of events do you expect to be hosting. 29 30 Kara Brewer: Sure. Primarily weddings and wedding rehearsals on Friday and Saturday nights. I am wanting to give back to the 31 community as much as possible so I do want to do a lot of fundraisers and charity events. I have a lot of connections for my work 32 with UNC, to both non-profits and charity organizations. And so that is very important to me, I’ve already been in contact with 33 several, so we’re already planning that aspect of it. Additionally, because the use is so low and it will be empty most of the time, 34 80-90 percent of the time, if there’s a community group, a youth group, a school group that needs a space during the day, I’m 35 more than happy to donate the space to them as well. So there’s a lot that can be done with this type of venue. 36 37 Sharron Linn: And can you just tell us a little bit about how often you expect to be holding events at the barn, like weddings…? 38 39 Kara Brewer: So, wedding season is primarily from May until October, so it does run about six months. And during that time I do 40 expect to have 1 – 3 events per week on the property. Off season, which is November through April will be less on the … where 41 there isn’t anything going on. There was be the occasional winter wedding, perhaps early spring wedding. When, the barn isn’t in 42 use for weddings and wedding related events, that’s when I anticipate that we could do more charity and more fundraising events 43 on Friday or Saturday night when it isn’t being used for weddings. During the off season, there’ll be weeks where there’s nothing 44 going on, there’ll be a few weeks where there’s one or two events per week. 45 46 Sharron Linn: And what are the barn operating hours? 47 48 Kara Brewer: The barn is only in operation during events. If there’s a potential client that does what to view the property they would 49 have to contact me and I would have to show them the property, so it would be by appointment only. 50 51 Sharron Linn: And earlier I think you wanted to address the acoustics coming from the barn..? 52 53 Kara Brewer: Sure, yeah. So the purpose of the barn and the reason why the barn can hold 200-250 people is because we want to 54 contain everyone within the barn. Doors are shut, windows are closed, proper insulation, windows and doors are all new so that 55