Graham’s Historic Resources Commission (HRC) this week voted to approve the city’s proposal to build a new park on a city-owned parking lot at 129 West Elm Street.
The commission made one change in the design that was presented, changing the pitch of the proposed pavilion roof from an A-frame-style pitch, like that most common on houses, to a flat roof.
[Story continues below photos of proposed park design.]
Board member Casey Bosley first raised the question of the roof, saying it should be “compatible with surrounding buildings,” all of which have flat roofs.
HRC chairman Zipporah Clark-Baldwin commented that she “loves [the pitched roof shown in the drawings developed by the city’s consultant, Stewart Inc.] but I don’t think it would fit in.”
Richard Shevlin added that the roof should “fall from front to back,” which is how he described the roofs of most other downtown buildings in the area.
Assistant Graham city manager Aaron Holland, who narrated the city’s proposal, showed the commission a drawing of a flat roof that was a part of a different design option that the consultant had provided earlier this month to the city council. The council opted for the other park layout, but HRC members decided to appropriate the roof style from the other layout, while leaving the location of the pavilion at the back of the park, as shown in the design plans. (The other option had placed the pavilion immediately beside the Roasted Coffee Depot building.)
Ben Beushausen raised questions about whether the green area shown in the consultant’s drawings was going to be grass, which he said he preferred, or artificial turf.
Clark-Baldwin said the city’s maintenance department could mow the grass on a regular schedule.
Aaron Holland stressed that “maintenance [of grass] will be challenge.” Later, in response to Shevlin’s reiteration that artificial turf would be easier to maintain, Beushausen relented, saying, “It’s such a small area, I’m fine with it. Turf is fine.”
The design describes that element as “turf green-forever lawn.”
The only testimony allowed by the commission was from Allene Massengill, who owns the building immediately to the left (west) of the new park.
Massengill initially said her tenant at the Roasted Coffee Depot wouldn’t have access to parking if the parking lot beside the building were eliminated.
Clark-Baldwin refused to allow her to address parking issues, as the commission had done earlier in the meeting with Alamance News publisher Tom Boney, Jr. [See separate story in this edition: https://alamancenews.com/alamance-news-publisher-challenges-legality-of-hearing-on-application-for-elm-street-park/]
However, Massengill was allowed to address the issue of the side of her building facing the park, which is shown in the drawings as having a front-to-rear, top-to-bottom mural. The legend for the plan being considered by the HRC lists “art opportunity on wall,” which is the wall of Massengill’s building.
Clark-Baldwin assured Massengill that nothing would be painted on her building, or attached to it, without her permission. The chairman also stressed that any future mural would also have to be approved, in advance, by the HRC.
Commission members also expressed a preference for native local trees as a part of the landscaping design, “anything but crepe myrtles,” Holland had said earlier in the meeting.
The commission ultimately voted unanimously, 5-0, for the city’s request for the certificate of appropriateness. Voting in favor were chairman Clark-Baldwin, Beushausen, Bosley, Sandy Hall, and Shevlin.
