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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979 CS council authorizes land purchase"'S council authorizes land pu Purchase of land for a future ommunity center was authorized y the College Station City Council ast night. The action may or may not please some 600 residents who signed a petition asking the council to pur- chase the land from Bill Fitch for a park site. The 8.9 acres of land is on the northwest corner of the Anderson and Holleman street intersection.' The city has been considering this site for the community center for several years and tried un- successfully to buy it from the A &M Consolidated School Board. The school traded it to developer D.R. Cain who in turn sold it to Fitch, a school board member. Fitch came to the planning and zoning commission last week, asking that the land be rezoned for duplexes. He said he thought the city had lost interest. His action rejuvenated the city's and neigh- bors' interest in the tract. Related stories page 8A. Neighbors did not want the land used for duplexes. Exactly what a community center is hasn't been decided by the city council. Councilman Larry Ringer said a committee considered the project several years ago and suggested that it be a place for meetings of such groups as scouts and clubs. Ringer said the structure would not be a big convention center with an auditorium. He said he would like to see recreational areas developed around the center with soccer and ball fields. The city has been collecting a portion of the hotel -motel tax to pay for the community center. Halter did not know how much had been collected, but he said he had been told there was enough to purchase the land. City Manager North Bardell was out of town and couldn't be reachr for the amount of funds available. Citizen Input Sought On CS Civic Center College Station's Civic Center Committee is seeking citizen input into what type of facilities should be in the new civic center - convention building. A questionnaire has been prepared and has been distributed to representatives of local clubs and other organizations known to have needs for facilities. Albert Padulla, chairman of the committee, says that an interested individual or representative of a group which has not received a copy of the questionnaire may obtain one by calling the administrative of- fices at city hall, 846 -8868. . Padulla said that planning for the facility has just begun. A site has not yet been selected. Tuesday, voters approved a proposal to capitalize $500,000 in future revenues from the city's hotel -motel tax which will be applied to the construction of a civic - convention center. The questionnaire includes provisions for user responses to such aspects as meeting rooms, auditorium, game- recreation room, party room, exhibition space, music -stage performance room, arts and craft room, kitchen facility and outdoor space. Other members of the newly - formed civic center committee are Ann Sackett, Inger Garrison, Judy Phillips, Phyllis Dozier, Manuel Pina, Robert Cornish, D.A. (Andy) Anderson, Dr. Benton Storey and Dr. Joe Natowitz. Councilman Lane Stephenson is liaison to that committee. Additional information may be obtairled from any committee member. lv Z4; W4 Site f ci vic l or cc��te r may be By STEVE GRAY d Contributing Editor College Station may be nearing the end of its search for a site for its proposed civic and convention center. City Councilman Bob Bell, chairman of the city's hotel -motel tax committee, said the city is discussing the possibility of ac- cepting the donation of a 12 -acre tract from the Area Progress Corp., a local land de- velopment company. The land, part of the 900 -acre Southland Valley subdivision now being developed by Area Progress, is south study for the proposed center. The study will determine an optimum site as well as the kinds offacilities that mightbe included in the center, Pedulla said. The city has already allocated $25,000 from its hotel -motel tax fund for construc- tion of the center which is expected to cost several hundred thousand dollars. The fund, which is used strictly for tourist pro- motion, currently t tals $45,365. How- donated ever, the city will probably have to draw money from other sources later to pay the remainder of the costs. The fiend represents a 3 per cent tax levied quarterly on the earnings of each the city's nine hotels or motels, include the university's Memorial Student Cent r Hotel. The state also levies an additional per cent tax for statewide tourist promo- tion. W. D. (Bill) Fitch, president of Area Pro - (See "Civic ", page 5) Civic center (continued from page 1) gress, said he had approached the city late last year with his offer to donate the land, but the city appar- ently was not very interested in the offer at that time. Fitch also said that five years ago he donated 19 acres of land to the city, which included the required amount of dedicated park- land, but the city has yet to develop the land into a park. City ordinance requires develop- ers to dedicate one acre of land for every 133 apartment units and one acre for every 20 single - family dwel- lings constructed. Fitch said he still wants the city to consider his offer. "I'm interested in providing park- land for the future residents that will live out in this (Southwood Valley) area," he said. "If the city wants to build a civic center on the land I donate, that's fine with me." of FM 2818, directly across from A &M students in the College of Architecture an Consolidated High Schogl. 1 Environmental Design is doing a design i In September, the city council ap- pointed a civic center committee, headed by Al Pedulla, that was charged with study- ing possible sites for the center. Pedulla said last night he was unaware that the city had been discussing the proposed donation and was unable to comment on the matter. Pedulla is acting director of architecture research at Texas A &M University. Pedulla did say, however, that one of his CS c g�ncil appoin,s committee to�fe�lb'w center suciaestions The College Station City Council Monday appointed a committee, consisting of Gary Halter, Lane Stephenson and Jim Dozier, to cull through suggestions for a com- munity center, submitted by a citizens committee. The council has the money for the community center. Funds are available from the hotel - motel tax revenue, but councilmen still need to determine exactly what they want in the com- munity center. They must also decide how to finance a land purchase and concerning the hotel -motel tax itself, the council must decide whether to take the local Option to increase the tax from 3 per cent to 4 per cent. The state legislature recently passed a law authorizing the lo tax option. Another big question facing the councilmen is where to put the com- munity center. Councilmen already have indicated two public pieces of land possible for the community center site. The city owns land on Texas Avenue across from the city cemetery. And the ad hoc citizens community center has shown interest in school property on Anderson Street. But the number one choice of the community center committee is a privately -owned piece of property. Councilmen aren't saying which one, pending negotiation. There are other privately -held Pieces of land that look good to the committee too, and all the owners will be contacted soon, coun- cilmen said Monday night.