Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Local Business Preservation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents urge council to pause eviction of Rainbow Music from downtown rail car; council to agendize
Summary
Multiple residents told the council Rainbow Music — a multi-generation local music school — received short notice to vacate a leased railroad car. Mayor Lohmann said the lease is year-to-year, expires in November, and the council will place the item on the Oct. 22 agenda and consider extensions or alternatives.
Several residents at Monday’s Colfax City Council meeting urged the council to reconsider plans that may displace Rainbow Music, a downtown music studio that operates in a historic railroad car.
Caroline Hixson, a Colfax resident of 46 years, said the studio’s operators have run lessons from the car for decades, renovated the unit and brought regular customers to town. "They were given really short notice," she said, adding that tenants were surprised and upset to learn they might have to vacate on 30 days’ notice.
Mayor Lohmann responded that the railroad car is held on a year-to-year lease that the city believes expires in November and that staff had been notifying tenants as that date approached. Lohmann said the city is willing to work with the tenants and that the council would place the matter on the Oct. 22 agenda for public discussion and possible direction.
Parents and other commenters said losing the studio would cut off music lessons for children and force families to travel out of town to find teachers; Josh Singer noted the emotional impact on his children and urged patience and relocation help if the space must be vacated.
Next step: the council will agendize the lease/rail-car disposition and allow public comment and a formal discussion at the Oct. 22 meeting. The council did not take immediate action at the Oct. 8 meeting.
