You can talk to one of our board members at two of the four information stations at Ladies Night Out in Hillsborough to hear the details.  They’ll be there until 7 pm.  We’ll also have a table in front of the Hillsborough Arts Council from 7:30 to 9 pm (220 S Churton Street).  Stop by to chat, and check out the Council’s Wearable Art show.

For now, let’s celebrate the win.  Later, I’ll tell you about some of the plans.

If you haven’t already started to follow us on Facebook, you’ll get more regular snippits there.  you can also sign up for our newsletter.

The possibility of a downtown Orange County Cultural Center is truly hatching. At the site of our former Public Library, on the second floor of the Whitted Building, 300 West Tryon Street, this six-thousand-square feet of pure possibility will knock you out. Being the original auditorium of Hillsborough High School, the site cries out for new uses, more rounds of rejuvenating applause.

Classrooms are there; the former library desk is a ready-made ticket booth for your group’s lectures, plays, art shows, pageants.

THIS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH, 10 AM-11 AM, THE SPACE IS OPEN.

Please stop in at your leisure. A fire marshal and two inspectors will also be there. But we are encouraged to wander the space and to dream.

A matching grant of ten thousand dollars is due January third.

Please come. No notice required.

Though this space occupies all of Floor Two, do ‘get in on the ground floor’ of this essential addition to our otherwise perfect community.

Blessings, Allan Gurganus

There is no auditorium in northern Orange County large enough and affordable enough to host these types of events.  To meet this need, organizations and individuals from across Orange County have banded together to form the Orange County Cultural Center (OCCC).

Within recent weeks, Orange County Commissioners have begun searching for a use for the second floor of “building A” of the Whitted Building, which used to house the main branch of the county’s library.  Prior to that, the building was Hillsborough High School.

The school had an auditorium on the main floor, which was used to hold the book stacks during the library years, and has been preserved as an open space.  The OCCC would like to rent the open space from the county and restore its use as an auditorium.  Click on the picture below to get a closer look at the open space of the Whitted building:

The Town of Hillsborough fully supports the drive to establish a cultural center to serve northern Orange County in the heart of Hillsborough.  In fact, within the past two weeks, the Hillsborough Tourism Board has offered a $10,000 matching grant to the OCCC to help fund the effort if it manages to raise another $10,000.

But, there is a time limit!  The grant is only offered for a 90-day period, so, the OCCC has only until January 3 to raise the matching funds!

The OCCC has already raised $3200.  Can you help get the cultural center get established by pledging your support?  The OCCC will wait to cash your check until the $10,000 has been raised.  Make your check out to the Hillsborough Arts Council (the OCCC’s fiscal agent until they get incorporated), and mail to:

We’ll have a table at the Handmade Parade.  Allan Gurganus will be at the end of the parade to help us kick off our campaign.

Please join our Facebook page and our newsletter list to stay in involved.

WHEN: Open through Friday, April 16

HOW: Online via the Town of Hillsborough Rail Station Task Force page or to the attention of Senior Planner Tom King

• By fax — 644-2390
• By mail — Attn: Senior Planner Tom King, Town of Hillsborough, PO Box 429, Hillsborough, NC 27278
• In person — Town Hall, 101 E. Orange St.

The Rail Station Small Area Plan Task Force presented the conceptual plans at an open house March 31. Under the plans, the town-owned site off Orange Grove Street would include an arts and cultural center, fire station, multi-level parking garage, office space, cinema, park land and townhouse condominiums as well as the rail station, which would have space for a police station. The HYAA — Hillsborough Youth Athletics Association — ball fields that are now located on the property would need to be relocated as site development progresses over time.

A transportation network and land uses are proposed as well for adjacent property to the south, which is located immediately behind the Daniel Boone shopping area and commonly referred to as “the Collins property.”

The plans may be viewed on the Rail Station Task Force page of the town’s Web site. The 3-D renderings are conceptual; they do not represent final design, architecture or scale of the buildings. The style and density of proposed buildings or land uses likely will change as more input is provided throughout the planning process.

Comments may be submitted online via the Rail Station Task Force page through Friday, April 16. Or they may be submitted to Senior Planner Tom King by fax at 644-2390; by mail at Attn: Senior Planner Tom King, Town of Hillsborough, PO Box 429, Hillsborough, NC 27278; or in person at Town Hall, 101 E. Orange St.

Citizens are asked to separate their comments by the Hillsborough tract site plan and the Collins property conceptual plan. For both plans, comments are requested on:

• The proposed transportation network
• The proposed land uses
• Any concerns

Comments on the Hillsborough tract’s overall site plan also are requested as well as any other comments regarding the Rail Station Small Area Plan.

The task force plans to present a finalized site plan and report to the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners in late spring.

For more information on the task force, visit its page on the town’s Web site or contact King, who is the staff liaison to the task force, at 732-1270 Ext. 73.

Some folks are not convinced that the public is interested in seeing a cultural center placed there. This is the public’s chance to voice that this would be a fantastic place for a cultural center; one big reason is that, being near the train station, the center could attract regional tourists who might like to hop on the train and see a show.

Please make sure your organization and your friends know about the meeting and come out and say, “We’d like to see a cultural center here!”

WHAT: Hillsborough Public Input Session on Proposed Land-Use Plans

WHEN: 6 to 7:30 p.m. March 31, with public viewing session opening at 5:15 p.m.

WHERE: Orange County Public Library meeting room, 137 W. Margaret Lane

More details about the meeting are here.

Second floor of building A of the Whitted Building

The County Board of Commissioners will consider endorsing County Manager Frank Clifton’s recommended reallocation of space within the Whitted Building.

The Whitted Building, which as of last year, housed the main branch of the Orange County library, is now vacant. The building is composed of two sub-buildings, A and B. Building A once served as Hillsborough High School, which, like most schools, had an auditorium. Wesley Woods, owner of Hillsborough’s Dual Supply hardware store, can remember when he used to see movies in the space, and photos exist of community theater performances held there. When the building was converted to a library, a drop ceiling was put in and the space was filled with bookshelves. The Cultural Center Committee has proposed that it makes the most sense to convert this space back to its original purpose.

On October 20 of last year, the committee made a presentation to the Orange County Commissioners, requesting that this building be considered for this reuse, or, at the very least, that a task force be formed to determine the best use of the building. The request for the reuse of the building was acknowledged by Mr. Clifton, and was “put on a list for further consideration when the County Commission determines its priorities with regards to the Whitted Building.” However, the Cultural Committee has not heard anything about the request to form the task force.

The manager has also received a request from the Orange County School System to use the proposed space to consolidate administrative staff, which will free up space for 14 classrooms, saving the county what it would cost to build those classrooms, about $3 million. The manager has accepted the school system’s proposal and recommended to the commissioners that they accept it as well. The Cultural Committee proposes that the historic building could better serve the community as a performance and cultural space than as sheer office space, albeit for the school system.

This building could be a place in the center of the county where 300-500 people could gather indoors to enjoy a theater performance by our local theater, perhaps even written by one of our county’s authors, a place where children could take after-school art classes, and a place where we could celebrate some of our area’s blues heritage. Just as we have preserved the Historic Occonneechee Speedway Track, shouldn’t we preserve this historic building? It has already served as a cultural meeting center in our community for generations. Our county should be big enough to meet the needs of both our educational and cultural communities, which are arguably, one in the same.

The commissioners will have this topic on their agenda for their next meeting if you care to listen in or make a comment.

Date: April 7, 2009

Contact: Hillsborough Planning Director Margaret Hauth, 732-1270 Ext.
86 or margaret.hauth@hillsboroughnc.org

Planned Bellevue Mill Project in Hillsborough May See Changes

HILLSBOROUGH — The public is invited to a presentation Wednesday,
April 8, on the planned renovation of the former Flynt Fabrics mill
into apartments.

The meeting — at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Cloth Building on Nash Street
— will include potential modifications to the special-use permit that
was approved in 2007 for the Bellevue Mill project.

That permit allows the renovation of the historic portion of the
former mill building. The approved plan calls for 85 apartments and a
2,000-square-foot leasing office.

The owners, who had the Nash Street property listed on the National
Register of Historic Places, are seeking a development partner to
complete the project. The approval is valid through Sept. 1 and may be
extended upon request. Applicants have two years from the date of
approval to secure construction permits or to seek an approval
extension from the Hillsborough Town Board.

The Town Board will discuss the developer’s proposed modifications
during its regular meeting at 7 p.m. April 13 in the Town Barn,
located on the Town Hall campus at 101 E. Orange St.

###

–
Catherine Wright
public information officer
Town of Hillsborough
Office: 919-732-1270 Ext. 82
Fax: 919-644-2390
catherine.wright@hillsboroughnc.org
www.ci.hillsborough.nc.us