Big decisions face Council Tuesday.


[view:node_ad=5]When the Santa Clarita City Council opens up Tuesday night's
meeting, they will have to decide several large issues.

The first involves the city's longstanding agreement with
College of the Canyons regarding use of the Performing Arts Center (PAC). After
the city donated $2.4 million dollars to expand the facility's seating, they
were granted 32% of the weekend dates per year. During those priority dates,
the city allowed community performance groups such as the Santa Clarita Ballet,
Symphony, Canyon Theatre Guild and others to use the time and put on large
shows. Under law, the PAC can only charge these non-profit groups the direct
costs of using the performance space.

According to City Council agenda reports, COC is now finding
that the PAC is in use nearly every weekend, and maintenance costs are rising
dramatically. Since the PAC makes no money off of the non-profits, it must book
a certain number of for-profit acts to keep the center up to standard.

It is with this in mind that the City Council will vote on
whether or not they will dissolve their agreement with COC.

An official end to the agreement would mean that community
performance groups would still be given time, however they may not be given the
same priority they enjoyed underneath the City's contract.

This would free up COC to generate more income for the
Performing Arts Center by opening up a greater quantity of dates for
profit-generating acts.  

If the City chose to continue the agreement, they would
likely be asked to contribute more money towards a maintenance fund for the
center.

Another big decision for the City involves the acquisition
of more land in downtown Newhall.

The City will vote on whether or not to acquire 24509
Spruce Street and they will also decide if they
should buy out the leasehold interest on a nearby building that currently
houses Carquest Auto Parts. Both parcels of land have been identified to be
used for the new public library being built in Newhall.

KHTS AM-1220 will post the results of these votes and all
other important matters on hometownstation.com Tuesday night.