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No rush yet to fund arts complex
By CHASE SQUIRES, Times Staff Writer ZEPHYRHILLS -- City leaders may have just started thinking about building a performing arts complex, but they aren't quite ready to go hunting for the big money just yet, City Manager Steve Spina reported this week. But that doesn't mean that the quest for a multimillion-dollar facility, perhaps combined with a new library, shouldn't start moving ahead, Spina noted in a memo to City Council members. It just holds off asking for a state grant for another year. "This really has come up quickly, in the last few meetings and workshops," Spina said Thursday. Spina said the city was considering building a performing arts center on about 10 acres on the north side of town near the post office. He said that if council members wanted to move ahead, they might want to start the process of buying the needed land this year. They might discuss the idea at a scheduled Monday meeting. The land is expected to cost about $500,000, and architectural drawings will likely cost $100,000. Both the land and the plans are required before applying for the cultural grant program, which has an August deadline. The grant could be worth up to $1.5-million. Spina said the final cost for the performing arts center could be $3-million. Unlike a group of arts supporters in Dade City, who face a self-imposed deadline on Tuesday to raise $500,000 for a community theater adjacent to the old Crescent Theatre, Zephyrhills shouldn't consider a year's delay a setback, Spina said. Zephyrhills City Council members began talking about some sort of civic center and arts complex last year as they considered buying land for a new police station. The talks have gotten more serious at recent budget workshops, Spina said. The city ended up buying a 4-acre parcel for the police station, but a larger parcel they had considered for the police station remained available, Spina said. The new police station is expected to cost at least $2-million. Currently, the city has $366,452 in an account available for a performing arts center, and council members could consider using a line of credit for the rest, using the existing police station -- and the promise of income its sale would generate -- as collateral. "I'm excited about it," Spina said.
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From today's Pasco Times Letters |
