801 Magnolia Art Center Lease: March 7, City Council
Council to Consider Use of 801 Magnolia Avenue –
At its meeting on Monday, March 7th, the City Council will discuss the future of the facility at 801 Magnolia Avenue. Specifically, Council will be considering a use agreement for the facility which provides time for the Piedmont Center for the Arts, significant use for City programs, and makes the space available for rental to community organizations.
Staff Recommendation:
a. Approve a Facility Use Agreement between the City of Piedmont and the
Piedmont Center for the Arts (PCA) for use of the Main Hall at 801 Magnolia,Avenue (Main Hall);
b. Authorize the City Administrator to provide written notice of termination of the 2011 Lease Agreement between the City and Piedmont Center for the Arts on March 25, 2022; and
c. Establish user fees for community use of the Main Hall as set forth in the fee schedule listed in this staff report.
Proposed Use Agreement:
Under the proposed Facility Use Agreement, the City would manage the use of the Main Hall under the auspices of the Recreation Department, which manages other City facilities and event spaces. The Department of Public Works will manage maintenance of the building. The Agreement specifies that the City will reserve for itself the annual use of the Main Hall on all weekday mornings, two weekday evenings each week, and sixteen weekends. In turn, Piedmont Center for the Arts [PCA] would have access to program the space for art related use on weekday afternoons, two weekday evenings each week, and up to thirty-six weekends each year. Hours not scheduled for use by PCA will be released for City use. The proposed agreement designates and assures at minimum, 2,492 hours (45% of the useable time) each year for City use of the Main Hall.
Key Provisions:
Approved Use: PCA use is limited to arts programming only
User Fee: PCA will pay a monthly user fee of $1,000 with an annual Consumer Price
Index (CPI) increase.
Calendar: Annually, PCA will be provided right of first refusal for 36 weekends,
weekday afternoons and two evenings per week within which to schedule
arts related events and programs. This allocation is intended to provide
flexibility for advance scheduling. It is expected that PCA will not utilize
all of this time and there are systems in place to allow for unscheduled
time to be released back to the City for broader community use.
Term: Six years
Termination: The proposed agreement allows the City to terminate the use agreement immediately if the Main Hall is needed for City operations due to an
emergency or unforeseen circumstance as well as with one year notice if
statutory requirements necessitate City use of the facility or if City facility
renovations require relocation of City Staff to 801 Magnolia Ave.
Parking: One parking place in the driveway located on Bonita Avenue will be
reserved for the Main Hall user group at any given time.
In the event Council approves the Facility Use Agreement, the next step would be for the City to formally provide notice to PCA that the current month-to-month tenancy is to be terminated with 30 days’ notice. In order to allow the Recreation Department time to organize implementation of this significant transition, Staff recommends issuing a notice of termination of the existing lease agreement on March 25, 2022, and upon expiration of the 30-day period, the proposed Facility Use Agreement would take effect on April 25, 2022.
User Fees:
Staff further recommends Council approval of a fee schedule for the Main Hall so that
community users can begin accessing the space as soon as possible. The fees as proposed are intended to provide relatively low-cost access to the Main Hall for meetings and small events and to serve needs not met by Community Hall or the Veterans Memorial Building. If approved these fees will also be incorporated in the annual review process for Recreation Department facilities undertaken during the approval of the annual budget.
Proposed Fees
• PUSD [Piedmont Unified School District] sponsored event with onsite supervision No Charge
• Piedmont Community Based Organization $30/hr
• Community Based Organization (CBO) $50/hr
• Private Rental Resident $80/hr
• Private Rental Non-resident $125/hr
As with the City’s other rental facilities, all uses will be subject to capacity and compatibility constraints. As a reminder, 801 Magnolia Avenue is a relatively small space without any kitchen facilities.
Community members are invited to attend the meeting virtually via Zoom or by coming to the City Council chambers. The meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m.
Community members can provide comment on this topic by sending email to citycouncil@piedmont.ca.gov. If you have questions about the report, please email City Administrator Sara Lillevand.
Garrett Keating and I are discussing this – we think it would be wonderful to have a READING ROOM in the building, for older residents, a very pleasant type of lounge area, with newspapers, magazines, and books available. We will send a more specific proposal to you soon.