TITLE: Title
Proposed Improvements to Town Commons
PURPOSE: The purpose of this item is to present to the Board the results of the Town Commons Study which includes a proposed concept plan
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DEPARTMENT: Public Works
CONTACT INFORMATION: George Seiz: 919-918-7427, David Jantzen: 919-918-7431, Anita Jones-McNair: 919-918-7381, Annette Stone: 919-918-7319
INFORMATION:
Introduction:
The Town Commons area was built in 1996 and is the host to many different types of events - the weekly Farmers' Market, Recreation and Parks annual events (including Carrboro Day, July 4th, Music Festival, and Halloween), paid reservations, non-profit fundraising efforts, and special events such as the Get Out The Vote rally in 2008 and the Tift Merritt concert in Sept of 2012. Activities taking place under the shelters and on the grounds.
Farmers' Market representatives approached Town staff about the possibility of doing major grounds improvements and indicated they would actively help raise money for such a project. Because of the multiple types of activities that take place on the Town Commons and the fact that these activities have evolved over time, Town staff felt that any major improvements should have a comprehensive approach and take into account all existing activities and possible future activities. Funding for an initial study / concept design was provided in the FY13-14 budget and supplemented by the Farmers' Market.
In the summer / fall of 2013, initial meetings were held with Town staff and the Farmers' Market rep to discuss various project aspects and an on-line survey was utilized to get feed-back from the public about various activities on the commons (survey results attached). Based upon this feedback, Town staff developed a project scope for the study which was used to solicit proposals from Landscape Architecture Firms. Public Works, in conjunction with Recreation and Parks selected a firm with similar experience designing small, flexible spac...
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