When Bill Webster first toured the Chapel Hill Department of Parks and Recreation Administrative Office at his job interview in 1980, he was told the building was a temporary space.
But 34 years later, he is still waiting for a new office.
“It needs to be totally replaced,” said Webster, the town’s parks and recreation assistant director. “The building is way too small, and there’s no storage. What little storage we did have we had to basically turn over for a youth pottery program. There’s no meeting space, there’s not enough offices for our employees — we’re kind of scattered around.”
The only arts facility parks and recreation had at first was a small building at Umstead Park that was home to preschool summer camps and art classes. That building burned down about 20 years ago and has not been replaced, Webster said.
He said the department’s current building was used for bus operations in the 1970s.
It was never intended to serve as a permanent home to the parks and recreation office, but with other aging facilities such as the fire and police departments in need of upgrades, Chapel Hill’s budget may not stretch far enough to replace it any time soon.
The Chapel Hill Town Council discussed some of the town’s aging facilities during its planning retreat last weekend.
The only current plan to address an aging facility is a public-private partnership to replace the fire station on Hamilton Road, which was built in the 1950s.
Jason Damweber, assistant to the town manager, said partnerships with private entities are one of the town’s options to improve these facilities.
