March 2 BOCC Agenda item on 203 South Greensboro Project/Southern Branch Library and Skills Development Center

[Alexandra and Susan Brown]

To the Board of Orange County Commissioners from the Friends of the Carrboro Libraries:

Regarding the County Manager’s suggestions tabulated in the form of options for the BOCC to consider re this item, 

we, the Friends of the Carrboro Libraries, have reservations about all the options offered and would like the BOCC to continue supporting the existing timeline and concept plans for 203 South Greensboro Street, Carrboro for the following reasons:

1. All the options offered in the Agenda constitute a delay in the building of 203 and the Southern Branch Library. The Friends of Carrboro Libraries have been working on this project for 34 years facing delay after delay and are eager to see the Library built as per the agreed upon timeline to serve the residents of Southern Orange County by early 2023.

2.The suggestion that the 203 South Greensboro Street project shed 20 parking spaces to offset the County’s shortfall presents the possibility of construction delays and an expensive architectural redesign. It is also not a viable option for the Town of Carrboro. Since the inception of the project, parking has been the most contentious issue especially in the business community. Building 203 South Greensboro Street means the loss of an existing 100 parking spaces to the business community during construction. The 203 project aims to return those spaces to the Town with an additional 73 spaces for the project’s use. It must be added here that the Library and Job Skills Center are County facilities which means that most people will be driving there and will require parking spaces. The planned number of parking spaces is the result of much research and many surveys.

3.The suggestion in Option 3 that a smaller version of the Library be built with a shell allowing for future development is a denial of the fact that this part southern Orange County needs a fully functioning Library for its tax paying citizens. For years the citizens of Carrboro and southern Orange have been denied a proper library. The Carrboro Branch Library’s collection, temporarily housed at the McDougle Schools for the past 25 years, is not available to the public during school hours and the Cybrary is merely a satellite with some computers and a small collection.The proposed Southern Branch will at last deliver proper Library service to this part of Orange County and it has been estimated that over 184,000 Orange County residents will be using the Library per annum. We need to add here that the Carrboro business community is already very nervous about the impact of 203  South Greensboro’s construction on their establishments and would oppose further disruption caused by Library development at a later date. For all of these reasons we oppose the shell option.

4.This takes us to options 4 and 5. While understanding the financial issues facing Orange County regarding the $1,807,160 shortfall, the Town of Carrboro, the project’s developer, has its own financial burdens with the increased costs. Might we add here that the Town of Carrboro is donating the land on which the Library and Skills Center will be built. Without this land donation both County entities would not be possible. Might we further add that, apart from schools, Carrboro has not been the beneficiary of County capital development for many years.

Having listed our concerns we would ask that the County support the existing plans for 203 South Greensboro Street and look elsewhere in the County’s budget to make this important project and contribution to the County’s infrastructure happen. We have been without a proper Library for so long and are still the largest town in North Carolina without a fully functioning library. We are against any delays and trust the BOCC and County Management to find a solution.

Sincerely, 

Alex Brown

President, Friends of the Carrboro Libraries