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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 e,b ��►� i i► iilllll�p����lll city of san L..js oBispo 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 -1a -o� city Of san 'L.16 OBISPO NiS COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT Page 3 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. d/0-3 city of san L,.is oi3ispo 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 II���►�HI�IIIII��P ��l� City of San LUIS OBISPO 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 ►��►bwuul�IIQIIp� ll city of san L,6AIs OBISPO i COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT Page 6 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 - /D �'