The holidays of November and December have reduced City Commission meetings to just two over the next two months, but commissioners will fill some time in workshops.

The commission normally meets the second and fourth Mondays each month. Veterans Day in the second week and the Thanksgiving holiday period extending into the fourth week have cancelled regular November meetings, but commissioners decided on November 14 as a replacement.

In December the Christmas/New Year's period takes out the second meeting, but there will be an organizational meeting December 3 to seat outgoing Commissioner Errol Jones' replacement and Mayor Joe Boles and Vice Mayor Leanna Freeman, who ran unopposed.

December 10 will be the only regular commission meeting for the month, but there will also be two workshops - a 4 pm session before the December 10 meeting to discuss the future of the mini golf site on the bayfront, and a 9 am session December 13 to begin discussions on the city zoning code, starting with the use of Planned Unit Developments (PUD).

Commission meetings are held in The Alcazar Room in City Hall - regular meetings at 5 pm.

It's been closed off for decades and, with its locked doors and stacks of old furniture, has become the subject of speculation by Flagler students over the years.

Few remember the days when the college's Solarium was open for student use. In fact, it was used as the library in only the earliest days of the college before it was closed due to safety concerns.

In those days, just a handful of classes were held in the area, and the Gargoyle - the student newspaper - had its office down a narrow corridor on the east wing off the solarium. But its main use was the library - until it had to be closed for lack of a proper fire escape route.

Flagler College President William T. Abare Jr. remembers moving the books from the Solarium to what is today the Flagler Room.

"We formed a human chain to move the books," he said. "Each book in the library was handed down individually. We didn't use carts to move them en masse."

The domed Solarium rises above the St. Augustine skyline as the centerpiece of Ponce de Leon Hall. When Henry Flagler built his Gilded Age hotel in the nation's oldest city in 1888, it served as a winter haven for the nation's elite. The Solarium was one of many gathering places inside the hotel, but this one provided unparalleled, panoramic views of the city, and that will be a focal point of the renovation.

The Solarium itself is quite different from the other parts of the former hotel. The large floor-to-ceiling windows on all four sides allow light to pour in. The center of the room is flanked with eight square columns, supporting vaulted walls, leading to a ribbed, wooden ceiling.

The space will be restored to much of its previous grandeur, along with some modern conveniences. The idea is for limited special events to be hosted there, along with the accompanying east and west terraces. Rooms to the east of the dome will also be given a new life.

Image: Collage of Flagler College Solarium concepts