Monca gets thumbs up

Veterans and art lovers trumped neighbors’ concerns at the Butte County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday (March 26), when the board voted unanimously to lease space inside Chico’s Veterans Memorial Hall as an art museum. The Museum of Northern California Art (monca) has been a traveling road show of pop-up temporary galleries. The vets’ hall is owned by the county and was vacated in 2005.

Some neighbors fear monca’s presence will impact traffic and parking. The museum will occupy 4,000 square feet of the 18,000-square-foot building, and its nine parking spaces meet Chico Municipal Code requirements. The museum has agreed to display and maintain veterans’ memorabilia that is not currently available for public view.

Supervisor Larry Wahl, a Navy vet, made the motion to allow the use. “I think the parking and traffic problems are really overstated,” he said.