gchildress@heraldsun.com; 419-6645
CHAPEL HILL -- Residents planning to tell the Town Council how they feel about a plan to move the library to the Dillard's space in University Mall didn't get the chance on Monday due to the threat of a winter storm.
The council cancelled its business meeting because of weather concerns and rescheduled it for Jan. 18 at 7 p.m.
But when the council meets next week to receive the town manager's update on the library proposal, its members already should have a good idea how citizens feel about the proposal.
That's because hundreds of them already have expressed their opinions about the proposal via an online survey.
Comments about the proposed move range from "No! Do not move the library to University Mall" to "I think it is a great idea. It will help the library & help the mall. Will make it more accessible to more people."
A perusal through the online comments appears to show that the prevailing sentiment is for keeping the library in its current location.
"The CHPL (Chapel Hill Public Library) is the heart of CH (Chapel Hill) for me," one person wrote. "It's serene, beautiful and my favorite place in Chapel Hill (it even outranks the Dean Dome!) Please don't move this treasure to the mall."
Councilwoman Laurin Easthom said she appreciates the fact that so many people have taken time to post comments about the proposal, but said those comments alone won't sway her decision.
Easthom said she also has to consider residents who might support the plan, but have not expressed their opinion in e-mail or the online survey.
"I'm not going to strictly look at e-mail numbers to make a decision," said Easthom, noting that she has spoken to several residents who support the move but have not made their feelings known publicly. "I have to be careful to consider the fact that there may be people who support moving the library to the mall who haven't sent e-mail."
Meanwhile, Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said the comments have been helpful in sorting out the concerns citizens have about the proposed move.
"What I've been doing is noting the concerns and fears," Kleinschmidt said. "Some of the things are being addressed or are being addressed."
He said one concern residents have is that the library would be smaller if it were moved to the mall instead of expanded at the current location.
"In fact, it's not less space," Kleinschmidt said.
Madison Marquette, the mall's owner, has offered to sell the town 52,000 square feet of the 62,000 square feet of mall space now occupied by the department store for $4 million.
Renovation plans for the existing library called for expanding the facility to 62,000 square feet. But because the Dillard's space has a 28-foot ceiling, the mall owners said the additional space could be accommodated by constructing a mezzanine level.
Kleinschmidt said another concern centers on the loss of property and sales tax revenues as a result of replacing Dillard's department store with the town's library.
Town officials estimate a loss of about $50,000 a year in tax revenue. According a town report, Chapel Hill would lose $29,718 in sales tax revenue and another $20,000 in property tax revenue each year if Dillard's is removed from the tax roll and replaced with the library.
But officials said the lost money could be made up, in part, with the creation of 10,000 square feet of "specialized retail space" the mall owners would retain in the Dillard's space.
Officials say specialized retailers generate $300 in sales per square foot compared to the $125 in sales per square foot a retailer such as Dillard's produces.
The higher amount of sales per square foot would increase the value of the 10,000 square feet, which would in the "future off-set some portion of the lost revenue."
Madison Marquette has said moving the library to the mall would increase mall traffic, which would, in turn, lead to the leasing of vacant space at the mall.
More retailers would mean more property and sales taxes for the town's coffers, they said.
"People who say they worry about the loss of Dillard's tax money don't seem to acknowledge the gains that would be made as a result of the additional traffic," Kleinschmidt said.
Also, under the proposal, the town could save about $4.3 million in construction costs by permanently relocating the library to the mall instead of expanding the existing library.
