HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/18/1991, C-10 - CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST BY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM REGARDING CONTINUED SUPPORT AND THE USE OF CITY-OWNED PROPERTY FOR A PERMANENT MUSEUM FACILITY. MEETING AGENDA
City of san L.,.IS ompO DATE "/ - ITEM # -LD
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
FROM: Ren Hampian, Assistant City Administrative Officer
Prepared by: Alison Lloyd, Administrative Analyst C_�
SUBJECT: Consideration of a request by the Children's Museum
regarding continued support and the use of City-
owned property for a permanent Museum facility.
CAO RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Authorize the Mayor to execute an agreement with the
Children's Museum which extends the lease of their present
site, and includes a contribution of $8,600 to assist with
staffing for the Museum during 1991-92 (Attachment No. 1) .
2. Direct staff to evaluate the feasiblity of using City-owned
property as a -permanent location for the Children's Museum,
including referral of the museum request to various other
interested parties.
DISCUSSION:
On January 2, 1990, the City Council entered into separate
agreements with the San Luis Obispo Little Theatre and the
Children's Museum regarding improvements and use of the building
and grounds at 1010 Nipomo Street. The property, formerly known
as the "old transmission shop", was purchased by the City in 1982,
in anticipation of the Mission Plaza extension. The agreement with
the Little Theatre authorizes lease of the property for
construction of a 300 seat theatre. The agreement with the
Children's Museum allows the Children's Museum to occupy the site
on an interim basis until the Little Theatre is ready to begin
construction.
Lease Extension
Under the provisions of the current agreement with the Children's
Museum, the City authorized improvements and use of the building
and grounds for a museum for children for the period of January 1,
1990 through June 30, 1991. The existing agreement also provided
for time extensions at three-month intervals subject to approval
by the City and the Little Theatre if the Little Theatre was not
ready to begin construction by the expiration date of the
agreement.
At the time the Little Theatre entered into the lease agreement
with the City, they anticipated breaking ground for construction
of the theatre during the winter of 1992. Since the project
development process has taken longer than anticipated, the Little
Theatre now expects to start work on the site during July 1992 with
completion of the project occurring by July 1993. As such, the
Children's Museum has requested to extend their agreement with the
City through June of 1992. (Attachment No.2) The agreement would
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Nii%_ COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
Page 2
subsequently allow the City Administrative Officer to extend the
lease at 3 month intervals thereafter, provided that the time
extensions would not interfere with the Little Theatre's
construction schedule.
Little Theatre Agreement/Construction Schedule
It is important to emphasize that the existing agreement with the
Little Theatre will not be affected by these actions. As stated
in their present agreement, if the Little Theatre has not
demonstrated to the City that it has accumulated sufficient monies
(80% of the construction costs of the building) to move forward on
the project within three years of the effective date (January 2,
1990 - January 2, 1993) , the agreement can be terminated by the
City. By allowing the Children's Museum to continue to use the
site for an additional year, it is not the City's intent to
automatically extend the agreement with the Little Theatre by one
year. Extension of the agreement with the Little Theatre would be
based on mutually agreed upon delays as provided for in the present
agreement.
In staff's opinion, based on the current status, the revised
schedule (Attachment No. 3) for work on the site by the Little
Theatre is ambitious. Therefore, City, Children's Museum, and
Little Theatre staff will meet periodically during the next year
to monitor progress and refine schedules accordingly, if needed.
Both the Children's Museum and the Little Theatre concur with this
approach. .
Reguest For Continued Sponsorship As A Recreation Program/Staffing
Contribution
Under the provisions of the present agreement with the Children's
Museum, the City agreed to sponsor the Museum as a Recreation
Department Program. As such, no rent was charged, and the City
agreed to provide part-time staffing, maintenance, and supplies for
a combined total of $8,200 during 1990-91. The agreement also
provided that if time extensions for use of the building were
granted, the Museum would provide staffing at its own expense after
June 30, 1991, unless other arrangements were agreed upon prior to
that time.
As such, the Museum has sent a letter to the City formally
requesting assistance for 1991-92. Specifically, the Children's
Museum would like to continue as a Recreation Department sponsored
program through June of 1992 and receive a $10, 000 contribution to
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fund one-half of a full-time Director position they estimated at
$20, 000 (Attachment No. 4) . The Children's Museum currently uses
a combination of a half-time Director position and volunteers to
keep the Museum open to the public 10 - 15 hours per week and to
perform other related Museum activities.
The Children's Museum has become a very popular attraction in the
downtown. The Museum serves an average of 600 visitors (and up to
1200) per weekend. The Museum also provides school tours and
birthday parties. Given this success and the desire of the Museum
to fulfill the terms of their lease agreement, they would like to
expand their hours of operation to at least 20 hours per week. The
Children's Museum has determined that it will take a full-time
Director to accomplish this, in addition to handling the numerous
other tasks of the museum operation. (It is important to note,
that even with a full-time Director, the organization will continue
to rely heavily on volunteers to operate the Museum) .
Projected Museum revenues for 1991-92 are adequate to fund one-
half of the costs of hiring a full-time Director. To accomodate the
additional hours of operation however, the Children's Museum is
requesting that the City fund the balance of the position, which
they estimated at $10,000. From the Museum's perspective, the
expanded operating hours will be beneficial to the downtown and the
community as a whole. The Museum expects to be in a position of
fully funding the Director position by 1992-93.
Staff has reviewed the request and determined that some level of
funding should be provided to the Museum for an additional year.
After that time, Museum and City staff believe that Museum revenues
will be dependable and adequate enough so that the operation can
be self-supporting.
As a result, staff is recommending that the City continue to
sponsor the Museum as a Recreation Department Program during 1991-
92 and provide a contribution of $8,600 for staffing, which is
slightly lower than requested. By providing a contribution of
$8, 600, the City will be funding the Museum at a level consistent
with the prior year, adjusted for inflation. This approach is more
in line with how the budget was prepared City-wide.
It is also recommended that the position serve as a Museum employee
as opposed to a temporary City position, as it has been thus far.
Staff believes that this would be a more straightforward employee-
employer relationship (as opposed to the employee working one-half
time as a City employee and one-half time as a Museum employee) .
In addition, shifting the position to the Museum is an appropriate
step toward the 1992-93 goal of self-sufficiency. The Children's
Museum concurs with this recommendation.
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COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
Page 4
Request For Use Of City-owned Property As A Permanent Location
Based upon the Little Theatre's revised construction schedule, the
Children's Museum is anticipating that it may need to relocate as
early as next July. For this reason, one of the Museum's goals for
1991-92 is to secure a permanent site which will accomodate a 4, 000
to 6, 000 square foot facility. The Museum has conducted a
preliminary search for property and has determined that a downtown
location would be preferable. The Museum believes that it offers
a significant contribution to the downtown because it attracts
visitors who will stay to shop in San Luis Obispo and vice versa.
The Children's Museum recognizes that suitable sites in the
downtown area are scarce and costly. Since the Museum does not
have the funds available to purchase property it has requested that
the City consider allowing the Museum to use one of its downtown
parking lots in exchange for payment to the Parking Fund of in-
lieu fees for removal of parking spaces. The Museum has identified
three potential locations in order of priority (Attachment No. 5) .
Before any decisions can be made regarding a permanent site for the
Children's Museum, staff is recommending that the request be
referred for review and comment to staff and various interested
parties such as the Parking Management Committee, Business
Improvement Association Parking Committee, Downtown Physical
Concept Plan Committee, and the Chamber of Commerce. Staff would
then anticipate providing the City Council with recommendations
after this review is completed.
Although an analysis of the Museum's request of use of City-owned
property has not been undertaken, staff has identified a
preliminary list of advantages and disadvantages associated with
each of the three locations.
1. Permit Lot Across From Art Center:
This site which is the most desirable to the Children' Museum
is located across from the Art Center on Broad and Monterey
Streets. The parking lot contains 20 spaces (12 public, 8
private) that serve the surrounding businesses. The
advantages of this site are its central location, its
proximity to the Mission Plaza where other cultural events
occur, and its consistency with the preliminary Downtown
Physical Concept Plan and with the adopted "Goals for Downtown
(1978) ". i
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SWEA COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
Page 5
The disadvantages of this site (all of which will require
additional analysis to determine the full impact) , relate to
parking concerns (e.g. , loss of spaces, loss of revenue, value
of property, etc. ) . In addition, the rear portion of this lot
is privately owned, and the front portion is restricted by an
access easement.
2. Monterey Street Frontage of Lot 14:
This site which is the Children' s Museum's second choice is
located between Monterey and Palm Streets. The portion of the
parking lot desired by the Children's Museum contains 15
spaces that also serve the surrounding businesses. The
advantages of this site are similar to the lot above; its
central location, proximity to Mission Plaza activities, and
its consistency with the preliminary Downtown Physical Concept
Plan. In addition, the size of the site is adequate to meet
on-site parking, future expansion, and outdoor needs.
Again, the disadvantages of this site will require additional
analysis to determine the full impact to the City, and are
similar to the concerns discussed above (loss of parking
spaces, loss of revenue, value of property, etc. ) . It should
also be noted that City staff is currently studying the
possible expansion of this site for parking.
3. Laguna Lake Park:
If the City determines that neither of the parking sites
discussed above is suitable, the Children's Museum has
requested consideration for use of Laguna Lake Park. The
advantages of the location are the potential for on-site
parking, future expansion, and outdoor needs; easy access; and
good exposure for the Museum due to its proximity to
neighborhoods, shopping and eating facilities.
As mentioned previously, it will require additional analysis
to determine the disadvantages of this site. One concern that
has been identified is the climate; the wind in particular,
which may have an impact on the design requirements of the
facility and the potential for outdoor uses. Another
potential concern is that a outlying location would not
reinforce downtown activities which is a noted benefit of the
current site. T
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i COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
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Other sites considered, but not recommended by the Museum Board
include: The Black Estate at 466 Dana Street, Sunny Acres/Former
Juvenile Hall at Bishop and Johnson Avenue, Emerson School at
Nipomo and Pacific Streets, and the Fire Station No. 1 Headquarters
Lot at 748 Pismo Street.
CONCURRENCES:
The Children's Museum and the Little Theatre have reviewed and
concur with the contents of this report.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Approval of this recommendation will result in a 1991-92 cost of
$8, 600 to fund the staffing of the Museum. This funding has been
provided in the Preliminary 1991-93 Financial Plan for the
Recreation Department, and would be transferred to the museum upon
approval of the budget. Future costs associated with providing a
City-owned site are unknown at this time.
ALTERNATIVES:
1. Deny staff's recommendation to provide the Museum with a
direct staffing contribution in the amount of $8, 600 to assist
with the costs of hiring a full-time director for 1991-92.
If this alternative is approved the Children's Museum would
be forced to fully fund their staffing needs. Due to the
Museum's limited ability to pay for staffing, the probable
need to relocate during 1992-93, and uncertainty with respect
to a permanent location, lack of City financial support could
result in the Museum being open to the public fewer hours per
week. For these reasons, staff does not recommend approval
of this alternative.
2. Deny the Children's Museum request for consideration of City-
owned property for a permanent location. Since staff and
other interested parties have not had an opportunity to
thoroughly evaluate this request, staff does not recommend
approval of this alternative at this time.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Extension Agreement
2. Children's Museum Request for Lease Extension
3. Little Theatre's Revised Construction Schedule
4. Children's- Museum Request for Continued City Support
5. Children's Museum Request for Use of City-owned Property
AL\Cmft
EXTENSION AGREEMENT BErdEEN CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO AND
SAN LUIS OBISPO CHILDREN'S MUSEUM FOR
USE OF CITY PROPERTY AT 1010 NIPOMO STREET
This extension Agreement entered. into this day of 1991, between
the City of San Luis Obispo (herein referred to as "City" and the San Luis Obispo
Children's Museum, a non-profit organization (herein referenced as "Museum'.
EXTENSION TERMS
1. Except as otherwise stated herein, all terms and conditions in the original
agreement between the City and Children's Museum, as approved under
Resolution No.6737, on January 2, 1990 (hereafter referred to as Original
Agreement) shall remain in full force and effect and shall continue to bind the
parties.
2. The lease term shall be extended as provided in paragraph 2 of the Original
Agreement The new term shall begin on July 1, 1991 and last through June 30,
1992.
3. Pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Original Agreement, the Musuem agrees to
maintain Public Liability Insurance in an amount agreed upon by both parties, and
will name the City as an additional insured to the policy. Certificates and
Additional Insured Endorsements will be provided as evidence of insurance.
4. Pursuant to paragraph 12 of the Original Agreement, the parties have agreed to
an alternative arrangement for staffing which shall be as follows:
The City will provide a direct staffing contribution in the amount of $8,600 to
assist the Museum with costs associated with hiring a full-time director for the
period of July 1, 1991 through June 30, 1992.
These extension terms to the Original Agreement are executed this day of
1991, in the City of San Luis Obispo, State of California.
CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
Director
President
ATTACHMENT N0. 1
PAGE. 2
EXTENSION AGREEMENT BETWEEN CITY OF SL_O AND
SLO CHILDREN'S MUSEUM'..
MAYOR - -- -- -----
ATTEST:
Citi-Cler4c
APPROVED:
715-
City Admirnstr five Officer
ey
Community IN el p ent Director
W\Iease.wp -
610 �.
1010 Nipomo Street P.O. Box 15602 San Luis Obispo, California 93406 805/544-KIDS
April 29, 1990
John Dunn and Ken Aampian
Office of Administration
City of San Luis Obispo
PO Box 8100
San Luis Obispo, CA 93403-8100
SUBJECT: Children's Museum Request for Time Extension
Dear John and Ken:
As you know, the Agreement between City and the Children's Museum allows for the Museum
to occupy City property at 1010 Nipomo Street until June 30, 1991 unless time extensions are
approved by the City and the San Luis Obispo Little Theatre. On behalf of the Museum Board
of Directors, I would like to request such a time extension.
From what I understand, Little Theatre may not begin construction this year, so we'd like to
request an extension for the upcoming months. I would be happy to meet with representatives
of the city and Little Theatre to discuss what an appropriate time extension would be. The Little
Theatre representatives have been extremely cooperative and we appreciate the opportunity to
remain informed about their progress so we can coordinate our plans to the maximum benefit
of all concerned.
Thank you for your review of this matter and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Candace havens, President
San Luis Obispo Children's Museum
ATTACHMENT N0. 3
I
I
I
1010 Nipomo Street P.O. Box 15602 San Luis Obispo, California 93406 805/544-KIDS
May 20, 1991
Honorable Mayor
Members of the City Council
c/o Ken Hampian and John Dunn
Office of Administration
City of San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA 93403-8100
SUBJECT: San Luis Obispo Children's Museum Staffing
Dear John and Ken:
In recent weeks the Board of Directors of the San Luis Obispo Children's Museum has been discussing
future plans for the Museum, including future sites and staffing. After considering various options, the
Board has concluded that it is important to have full-time staffing for the upcoming year. We quickly.
discovered how many facets there are to running a museum and a single, full-time position is the
minimum needed to oversee our operations. In addition, we would like to expand our open hours and
are convinced that we cannot rely fully on volunteers to provide the necessary supervision.
The Board is prepared to assume responsibility for directing and paying staff; we expect it will be simpler
for our director, too, since she now has two bosses—City staffmn the Board. Yet, at the present time,
the ability of the Museum to pay for staffing is limited. As you know, we have established a building
fund and are saving for the expense of relocation in the near future. If we can minimise our expenses
it will help us to save for that cove. We wish to request that the Recreation Department sponsor the
program for one more year. But rather than ask the City to employ the director, we request a monetary
contribution of half her annual salary (roughly$10,000)for the upcoming fiscal year. As of July 1, 1992
we expect to be prepared to assume full financial responsibility for staffing.
It will be a tremendous help to the Museum to continue to have City support during this phase of our
development. In return,the Museum will continue to provide a variety of educational exhibits and special
events to enhance the learning experiences of the children of this community. If you have any questions,
please feel free to give me a call at 544-3656. Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,
Candace Haveas��
San Luis Obispo Children's Museum
ATTACHMENT nn. 3
� 1
1010 Nipomo Street P.O. Box 15602 San Luis Obispo, California 93406 805/544-KIDS
February 15, 1991
Members of the City Council
City of San Luis Obispo
PO Box 8100
San Luis Obispo, CA 93403-8100
SUBJECT: Relocation of San Luis Obispo Children's Museum
Dear Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council:
As you know, The San Luis Obispo Children's- Museum currently occupies a 2,000
square foot city-owned building at 1010 Nipomo Street and is seeking an appropriate
site for its future permanent facilities. If the Little Theatre maintains its fundraising and
building program on schedule, we may be moving sometime in 1992. We're preparing
now for that move so we can keep our doors open continuously and without hindering
Little Theatre's building progress.
After thoughtful study and consideration of a number of potential sites where we could
develop a 4,000 to 6,000 square foot facility, the Museum Board of Directors
unanimously agrees that a downtown site would be ideal. We believe there is a
mutually beneficial relationship between the museum and downtown; the museum draws
people who remain in town to shop and shoppers also visit the museum. Since the
museum currently attracts an average of 600 visitors each weekend jup to 1200 some
weekends) and has involved numerous volunteers (who have contributed over 2,000
hours since September), we feel the museum offers a significant contribution to the
vitality of downtown.
While the Board strongly favors relocating downtown, it also recognizes that suitable
sites are scarce and costly. We don't have the funds to purchase property and again
request the City's help. We ask that the Council consider allowing the museum to use
one of its smaller downtown parking lots in exchange for payment to-the Parking Fund
of in-lieu fees for removal of parking spaces.
ATTACHMENT N0. 4
Our Board favors either of two lots which are not likely to be developed into larger
parking facilities because of their: size or site constraints and seem appropriate for
downtown commercial uses. They are:
* the permit lot across from the Art Center (20 parking spaces) and
* the Monterey Street frontage of Lot 14 which runs between Monterey and
Palm Streets (15 spaces).
If the Council does not support either of these options, we hope that it willconsider
allowing the museum to relocate at Laguna Lake. Although we hate to give up the
relationship which accompanies the museum in a downtown spot, a Laguna Lake Park
location offers room for expansion, space for outdoor activities, ample parking, and
possibly regional draw from adjacent shopping centers. Of course, we welcome the
opportunity to be grouped with other related recreational and educational facilities and
share spaces for play, parking, meetings and offices.
We recognize that the Council has not had the benefit of staff analysis prior to
reviewing our request and may wish to discuss this matter at a future meeting.
However, for the purposes of the current review of the Laguna Lake Park Master Plan,
we hope the Council seriously consider us as a potential tenant and include us in the
planning process if it deems appropriate.
Please feel free to call us if you have any questions or need more information to
' respond to this request. Thank you for your consideration.
•
Sin c ely,
Rob Strong Candace Havens
Chairman, Site ection Committee President, SLO Children's Museum
543-4560 544-3656
f
c: John Dunn
Arnold Jonas
Tun Stockton
Mike Multari
SLOCM Board of Directors
r(ECEIVED
SAN LUIS OBISPO
"' MAY 3 � 1991
iyOMINISTRATION
LITTLE THE
ATI LUIS 081
SPO. Cf'
May 28 , 1991
John Dunn, City Administrator
City of San Luis Obispo
P.O. Box 8100
San Luis Obispo, Ca 93403-8100
Dear Mr. Dunn,
On May 9, 1991 , I attended a meeting with Allison Lloyd
(City of SLO) , Rob Strong and Candace Haven (Children' s
Museum) . During our meeting we agreed to allow the Children ' s
Museum to continue in the present location through June 30 , 1992 .
We feel that this would be mutually beneficial for both the
Children' s Museum and the Little Theatre .
In light of this agreement , we have adjusted our original
time schedule as follows:
July/August 1991 - Estimated Design Approval by
the Architectural Review Commission
August 1991 to January 1992 - Working drawings
completed . Plan check and recheck process completed .
Obtain building permits .
February 1992 - Construction bidding begins .
July 1992 - Break ground.
July 1993 - Estimated completion date.
If this new schedule is agreeable, please let us know in
writing. We will try to remain as flexible as we possibly
can with both the Nipomo St. bridge project and the CbildrPn ' s
Museum' s search for a new home. We 've agreed to meet again
in 9 months to assess everyone' s progress . At that time all
three projects should have a much clearer picture of when
they will be able to begin. In the meantime, we will proceed
based on the above schedule.
If you have any questions or concerns , please feel free to
contact me. I 'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Marge Castle
President
cc:P�k'Box ��ai]'�.Aga&pByy California 93406 • (805) 543-3737
ATTACBMNT NO. 5 2-1D
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