by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Two pieces of legislation introduced to City Council in November have cleared the final Council committee hurdle and are now headed back to Council for final approval. The Council’s Recreation & Community Development Committee approved both bills by a 5-0 vote.
The first bill appropriates $109,000 from the Special Council Contingency to provide rent forgiveness for the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra for the use of Jacoby Symphony Hall at the Times-Union Center. The forgiveness covers the fiscal year 2008-09.
The proposal first came up during budget hearings over the summer. Finance Committee Chair Michael Corrigan placed the rent money “below the line” in the budget and asked the Cultural Council to review the forgiveness request.
According to Symphony Chair Jim VanVleck, Jacoby Hall went through an $11 million renovation in 1997 as part of former Mayor Ed Austin’s River City Renaissance. Most of those funds, he said, were raised by the Symphony through private donations.
“Since then, we have incurred a $3 million deficit,” he said. “We feel this is appropriate for us.”
VanVleck said the Symphony performs 160-200 times a year and had an attendance of 200,000 people last year.
The RCD Committee also approved an 18-month lease for Alenia North America, Inc. for 10,705 square feet of space in building No. 900 at Cecil Commerce Center. The company will use the space as offices as it prepares to begin construction of an assembly plant for the C-27J Spartan plane.
According to Lindsay Ballas of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, between the assembly plant and equipment, Alenia is expected to invest $104 million and create 300 new jobs.
“The building has been vacant for three years,” she said, adding the rent is market rate.
Alenia will rent the building for just under $10,500 a month for 18 months with 12 one-month options. Late last year, Council approved the Alenia assembly plant.
The committee also heard an update from Ros Phillips — the City’s director of recreation and community services — on the status of the City’s community centers and how they are used and staffed. According to Phillips, the City has 80,000 acres of parks, of which 50,000 acres has been set aside as preservation land.
The City has 53 facilities and 26 are currently staffed by City employees with another nine in some type of partnership. Eight are vacant and could be rented for events, two are used as meetings facilities, six are considered special use and one in the Forest Park is closed is closed due to contamination.
“Many of the centers are clustered in what we call the core area and most are staffed or in a partnership,” she said.
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