TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THRU: Tom Kisela, Interim City Manager
FROM: Leslie Hardy, Community and Library Services Director
1. Subject
title
Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Orange and the Greater Orange Community Arts Theater for the use of City land to build a performing and fine arts venue and first Amendment to the Agreement for Naming Rights Related to Fundraising Efforts by the Greater Orange Community Arts Theater Foundation.
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2. Summary
The Greater Orange Community Arts Theater desires to update the Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Orange in order to re-establish the proposed footprint of City owned land to be used to build a new performing and fine arts venue and to establish fundraising targets and timelines. Additionally, an amendment to the original agreement for Naming Rights Related to Fundraising Efforts is proposed in order to correct a misprint regarding the type of venue that is to be built.
3. Recommended Action
recommendation
1. Approve a Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Orange and the Greater Orange Community Arts Theater and authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to execute on behalf of the City of Orange.
2. Approve the First Amendment to the Agreement with the Greater Orange Community Arts Theater Foundation; and authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to execute on behalf of the City of Orange.
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4. Fiscal Impact
None.
5. Strategic Plan Goals
Goal 3: Enhance Public Communication Strategy and Quality of Life
6. Discussion and Background
Background
The City owns 42 acres of land known as Grijalva Park at Santiago Creek. The land is located in the northwest corner of the intersection of Prospect Street and Spring Street with the Santiago Creek forming the western edge of the property. The first 15 acres were developed into a park with lighted soccer fields in 2002. A conceptual masterplan was finalized in 2005 for the western 27 acres, commonly referred to as the “Grijalva Park Extension.”
2005 Grijalva Park at Santiago Creek Master Plan
Through a public input process and reference to the City’s 1999 Master Plan For Park Facilities, Recreation and Community Services (1999 Master Plan), the 2005 Grijalva Park at Santiago Creek extension property masterplan was created and included a gymnasium/sports center, aquatics center, community center, skate park, playground, outdoor amphitheater, and a stand-alone restroom building. The Sports Center was completed in 2011.
Any further development of the Grijalva Park Extension was put on hold pending available funding for both development and operations of additional park amenities.
Community Requests
In 2018 and early 2019, the City received formal requests from several community groups interested in exploring partnerships for the undeveloped Grijalva Park Extension property. These included Contenders Boardshop in support of a skate park; Greater Orange Community Arts Theater (GOCAT) in support of building and operating a new community arts theater; Orange Regional Competitive Aquatics (ORCA), requesting to build and operate a community pool, and the Orange Public Library Foundation and Orange Public Library Board of Trustees (OPLF/LBOT), who expressed interest in exploring opportunities for a new library branch. In addition, Orange Elderly Services expressed interest in utilizing the property for a new east end senior center. Recently, OPLF/LBOT combined efforts with Orange Elderly Services to propose fundraising for a multigenerational community center/library.
In an effort to evaluate these requests, staff engaged the services of MIG Landscape Architects (MIG), formerly Purkiss-Rose-RSI, who created the 2005 Master Plan, to help evaluate options. MIG presented staff with a potential updated Master Plan. The City Council reviewed the status of the Master Plan and in February 2019, issued support letters to Contenders Boardshop, the GOCAT Foundation, Orange Public Library Foundation and Board of Trustees, and ORCA to raise funds to build their respective facilities.
GOCAT
In 2021, the City of Orange entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to facilitate fundraising by GOCAT for a Community Theater Venue (Attachment 1). The MOU is set to expire December 31, 2025. GOCAT has requested to update the MOU with the City, and include the following (Attachment 2):
• Increase building footprint from the previously approved 32,000 square feet to 53,000 square feet
• Ongoing maintenance, staffing, and associated expenses will be the responsibility of GOCAT
• Usage of the theatre will be managed by GOCAT
• GOCAT will provide the City with access to the theatre for City sponsored meetings and activities at no cost
• MOU will terminate on December 31, 2030 should construction documents and schedule not be finalized and approved by the City
• MOU will terminate sooner should GOCAT not meet specific fundraising targets
• City will enter into a long-term ground lease to GOCAT for $1/year upon GOCAT achieving set fundraising targets
In addition, the City entered into an agreement in 2021 with GOCAT for Naming Rights Related to Fundraising Efforts (Agreement 7118) (Attachment 3). In Section 4 of the agreement (Donations and Reporting), it was mistakenly listed that the funds collected be used to fund the construction of the Grijalva Park Gym. The first amendment to the agreement updates the language to reflect that funds will be used for the theatre (Attachment 4).
7. ATTACHMENTS
• Attachment 1 - 2021 Memorandum of Understanding (Agreement 7119)
• Attachment 2 - Draft Memorandum of Understanding
• Attachment 3 - Agreement for Naming Rights Related to Fundraising by the Greater Orange Community Arts Theatre Foundation (Agreement 7118)
• Attachment 4 - First Amendment to Agreement for Naming Rights Related to Fundraising by the Greater Orange Community Arts Theatre Foundation