Tuesday, March 08, 2005

BCC bids Barnum committee fond, final farewell

The City Commission ended a long chapter in the Barnum book Monday night when it voted to disband the Barnum Steering Committee.

More than two years of work culminated with the committee's report Monday. It suggested tearing down the Barnum building and replacing it with an "innovative urban park."

The committee determined that a community recreation center on the site wouldn't work because the cost to renovate the building would be prohibitive, and a recreation center, whether new or refurbished, could never sustain itself without subsidy. Instead, it suggested working with the YMCA, which is considering an expansion of its facility on Lincoln.

The committee didn't look into a potential sale of some of the property, but the commission asked about it, since a sale of half the property could net nearly as much as the $8-point-something million the city paid for the whole thing. Commissioner Scott Moore suggested plowing any proceeds of a sale back into the city's parks, if legally possible.

Neighboring residents came out in force to back the idea of using all the land for a park.

The commission is poised to deal with the issue itself, and instructed the City Manager to return with his recommendations on how to proceed.

Stay tuned.