Agenda Packets - 1997/01/07 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• IIIwould make the land at the Bel Rae site available for$1 and in exchange the City would receive an 111 agreed upon amount of use of the VB Diggs facility. Fourth, if VB Diggs' building and the Bel Rae were to be attached, an agreement to manage the building would be worked out. Fifth, the City would make no increment generated from the VB Diggs' portion of the project available to VB Diggs (unless the City wanted to). And sixth, an acceptable position for the City would need to be determined if VB Diggs failed in their ownership of the volleyball center. Discussion also took place regarding use and ownership of additional gym-like space if it were to be built. VB Diggs is to take these points to their lender to help them firm up their fiscal commitment and addressed their lenders concerns. This is in the process right now. Additional Factors Despite the many months of work on this, several issues were never clarified as to just what is acceptable for this project to the Council and the community. In late summer Decision Resources was used to survey the community on options the City saw as possible at the time. Generally, the results indicated interest in a project but with low interest in additional costs to the community. My own opinion of the survey and the announcing of the findings was that it in itself had done more to make people aware of the project possibilities than anything else that had been done. However, without a clearer picture for people to respond to, it is still very difficult to tell just what will be acceptable. III Prior to ending 1996, the Council set up a citizens task force to monitor andve g iinput on the Bel P Rae. Essentially this committee is the Parks and Recreation Commission, with five additional people S appointed and Parks and Recreation Director Mary Saarion doing the staffing. Exactly what their role is to be beyond this is a little unclear, but their first meeting has been set up and their input will be reported to the Council. In meeting with several of you earlier this month and the Mayor-Elect once or twice since, interest continues in having the community respond to a more specific project, perhaps even through a referendum of sorts. With this in mind and the time table various aspects of the project presents, I'd like to make a few recommendations. How to Brin2 this Project to a Head As I prefaced earlier, there is nothing quite as uncomfortable as having decisions thrust upon you, but options do exist of course. The driving need right now is whether to accommodate the Children's Home Society, and while that is not the original reason to develop the Bel Rae, its possibilities present what I will refer to now as Option A. Option A: This option is a continuation of the work directed by the 1996 Council and is intended to get the CHS into the Bel Rae in their time frame need. To do this, floor plans have been drawn showing how the CHS would fit into the building, and these are attached for your review. According • to the architect, once the Council decides on whether the layout is acceptable, bidding and construction would take about three months. Working backwards from the date CHS needs to be • in the building, this would mean the Council would need to decide if this is acceptable at the January