Apr 19 2022
In response to public criticism of the lack of transparency into the renewal of the use agreement for the 801 Magnolia Avenue building, several Councilmembers and Piedmont Center for the Arts (PCA*) Board members pushed back, claiming that three meetings over a 15-month period allowed for adequate public input. That sounds transparent but some history and context is needed to see how poorly the process of the past 15 months met community needs.
- · The City purchased the 801 Magnolia Avenue property in 2003 at a cost of $735,000. A the time, the City was developing the Civic Center Master Plan, a redevelopment of the Civic Center that called for replacing the 801 building with a modern building and civic plaza. Undergrounding cost overruns and the 2008 economic downturn forestalled proceeding with the master plan at that time.
- · In March, 2011, the City received a proposal from the Piedmont Center for the Arts to lease the building. The City conducted a public hearing, “Consideration of the Concept of use of City Property at 801 Magnolia Avenue by the Piedmont Center for the Arts” at which PCA presented its Articles of Incorporation which state “The specific purpose of this corporation is to promote artistic endeavors for youth within the Piedmont community by providing exhibit and performance space and a website to connect the Arts Center with exhibitors and renters.” At the hearing, commenters recommended other uses for the building such as a Maker Center, teen or senior center and public library.
- · In April, 2011 PCA signed a 10-year, no-rent lease with the City which stipulated that PCA could rent space to only non-profit sub-tenants. Over the ensuing 10 years, the City modified the Zone B use restrictions so that a for-profit business of a PCA Board member could be operated in the 801 Magnolia Building.
- · In November 2021, the City came forward with a 10-year lease renewal with PCA. No public hearings on the use of the 801 Building were held at City Council or city commissions nor did Council discuss the 801 lease renewal in closed session prior to the November meeting.
Failure to engage the public and City Council in discussions of use of the 801 Building prior to the November meeting soured the public process from the start. According to the City Charter, “An ordinance may be introduced by any Councilmember at any regular or special meeting of the City Council.”
At the November 2021 meeting, the previous Mayor publicly stated he was asked by PCA to open negotiations on a new lease and presumably used this ordinance authority to bring forward the new lease (at his last meeting as mayor). But in so doing, he ignored the input of his Council colleagues and the community at large on the use of 801 Magnolia. Other factors contributing to public dissatisfaction with the process were flaws in the lease and the obvious bias to Piedmont Center for the Arts it contained. Read the analysis by Rick Raushenbush to see just how badly the first draft of the agreement represented the City’s interest.
https://www.piedmontcivic.org/2020/11/29/opinion-four-major-flaws-in-proposed-art-center-lease/
Since November 2021, overwhelming public opposition to the first draft of the lease and the process by which it was brought forward resulted in the City taking more control of the building and relying on a facility use agreement that was approved by Council in March, 2022
(http://piedmont.hosted.civiclive.com/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=18384268).
But as with the first draft, no public hearings or closed sessions of City Council on the use of 801 were held in the ensuing 15 months and again, the majority of public comment has been critical of the agreement and the lack of transparency into its development. So three meetings over a 15-month period was not a “robust public process” but a series of reactionary meetings with the public trying to claw back access to this public building.
What’s really confounding is why the City didn’t conduct an open public process on the use of 801 Magnolia? PCA would likely have retained preeminent use of the building with better community access being achieved at the same time. Instead, a lease highly favorable to PCA was always the only topic for comment, sending a strong signal that it was a fait accompli. It should be noted that it was in the City’s interest, as well, to have a limited discussion of 801’s use. Office space is at a premium in City Hall and no doubt staff will make use of the new space in 801 for employees.
There are three spaces in the 801 building – the office space, classroom and performance hall – and a more equitable agreement would be to have assigned the classroom to the community as a senior center. The Recreation Department is doing a better job of providing senior programming, but what seniors really need more is a gathering space and the 801 classroom would be perfect for that.
Why all this matters is that 6 years from now the facility use agreement will expire and the community will again go through this process for the 801 building. Several current Councilmembers could be involved again so hopefully a better public process will be followed. This whole saga reminded me of the scene from Oliver Twist when Oliver approaches the master and asks “Please sir, I want some more”. Hopefully it won’t be so hard to ask next time.
Garrett Keating, Former Member of the Piedmont City Council
Editors’ Note: Opinions expressed are those of the author.
*Since 1986, PCA has been the logo for the Piedmont Civic Association. In 2011, when the Piedmont Center for the Arts was formed and began using PCA as an identifying symbol, the Piedmont Civic Association informed the Arts Center of the potential misunderstanding for two Piedmont organizations to refer to themselves as PCA. The two PCA organizations are separate and unrelated entities serving Piedmont. The Piedmont Civic Association has never had a lease or agreement with the City of Piedmont for use of 801 Magnolia Avenue.
