Allison Platt, landscape architect and principal at Regeneration by Design, presented three design options for downtown revitalization during a two-hour session earlier this week, held in the Historic Train Depot. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Ryan Roberts, owner of R&R Brewing, takes a photo of the favored streetscape design for downtown Mount Olive. The design that appeared favored by most of the people attending a Monday night, Oct. 23 public meeting, features wider sidewalks, bike lanes, all parallel parking and a fence and landscaping to “soften” appearance of railroad tracks. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
The face of downtown Mount Olive could change dramatically should the town decide — and provided if it can find the several million dollars needed — to implement a revitalization project.
The change would take the shape of wider sidewalks, a railroad track buffer and landscaping, bike paths and all parallel parking — eliminating head-in (diagonal) parking — along both sides of Center Street between Pollock and John streets.
Not all of the suggested changes were popular — especially the elimination of head-in parking.
That suggestion drew quick and very vocal opposition from several of the 25 people attending the Monday night, Oct. 23, streetscape design presentation by Allison Platt of Goldsboro. They argued it would create a hardship on their customers, particularly the elderly, their businesses and would reduce the number of available parking slots.
However, most of those at the meeting appeared to favor a variation of one of Platt’s three proposals provided she could add a bike path to it. She assured them that could easily be done.
Platt, landscape architect and principal at Regeneration by Design, presented three design options for downtown during the two-hour Monday night session held in the Historic Train Depot.
Earlier this year, Mount Olive received a $175,000 Rural Transformation Grant through the N.C. Dept. of Commerce. The grant was for hiring a company to help develop a master plan of how the downtown area can be improved and for a streetscape design.
Monday’s meeting was the second held this month to gather public comment on downtown revitalization.
During the first meeting held Oct. 1 and attended by 60 people, officials with Retail Strategies, the company developing the master plan, talked about the process that will include a market analysis, design, tourism and promotion, economic vitality, policy and administration.
Platt, who has previously prepared plans for Goldsboro, New Bern and Washington, N.C., was hired to prepare the streetscape design.
As a designer, Platt said her job was to prioritize pedestrian experience and safety.
“So, handicapped accessibility, sidewalk dinning, shade — all the things that make it a pleasant place to visit,” she said. “If you can, it is great to provide space for outside dinning. It might be a great plus for you because it might attract more restaurants and more restaurants would bring more people in.”
Her job, she continued, also includes providing more connectivity such as handicap accessibility and bike paths.
It includes as well public space improvements for art and events, she said.
A successful streetscape redesign, if implement with community resolve, will always pay for itself and more, Platt said. It also will increase interest in rehabbing vacant and underutilized buildings, she added.
“The resulting improved tax base will begin to fund wider improvements to the community,” she said.
Platt’s work on projects across the state as well as her experience working with small towns, university towns and with CSX railroad were among the reasons she was hired, said Mount Olive town Commissioner Barbara Kornegay.
“The rail crossings and dealing with CSX is a problem,” Platt said. “But the one thing that I noticed when I came here is your railroad bed is built up above ground level. So more than some towns that I have seen, I would have to say that the railroad tracks, visually at least, are a potential negative issue.”
Platt suggested that one improvement would be to find a way to soften the tracks’ appearance, and the design option favored by the majority of those attending included a steel picket fence along the railroad curbing which be an added safety measure as well.
It also included landscaping along the fence, possibly using a low-maintenance type of tall-growing grass.
Platt stressed that the town would need to make a commitment to maintaining whatever landscaping is included in the project.
The first option offered was to increase the sidewalk width from 11 feet to 16 feet with bump-outs (extension of the sidewalk and curb line at intersections); two rows of parallel parking on each side of the railroad tracks (one along the storefronts and the other along the tracks); and a five-foot bike lane on each side.
Option two also called for 16-foot wide sidewalks, two rows of parallel parking on each side and a 5-to-7-foot railroad track screening, but initially lacked bike lanes.
The third option called for 12-foot sidewalks with no bump-outs; one row of parallel parking and one row of head-in parking; and a 5-to-7-foot railroad track screening.
However, after being asked about the parking, Platt said she had made a mistake and that the third option would not include parallel parking.
Option two got the nod once Platt assured the audience that bike lanes could be added.
Audience members supported the bike paths for several reasons including as a way to help attract University of Mount Olive students to the downtown — an issue that was a key focus of the Oct. 1 session.
Adding bike lanes also create what is referred to as a “complete street”, something that could help the town secure funding for the project.
“Basically, you are welcoming everybody to your downtown,” Platt said.
Still, some expressed concern about the loss of head-in parking spaces that could require traffic to have to circle the block to find parking or to make use of available off-street parking.
Platt said she has had to do that in downtown Goldsboro, but has not found it to be an issue.
One person suggested the off-street parking is seen as being unsafe and that improvements, including better lighting, are needed.
Also of concern are the two pedestrian crossings over the railroad tracks — one at James Street and the other at Main Street.
Platt said she was unfamiliar as to how the crossings came to be and said she did not know how CSX would react to any changes.
Pratt was asked about the cost and a timetable.
She did not comment on the timetable, but said it could cost $1.5 million per block. However, she said, costs are continuing to increase.
There are state and federal funds available, she said. For example, in Goldsboro $15 million of the $18 million project was from grants, she added.
Also, Platt said she has worked on projects where private donations were used.
Following the session, Kornegay said that while the audience had not been as large as the Oct. 1 meeting that she was still pleased with the turnout.
The disagreements during meeting were a good sign indicating that there was a good crowd, Kornegay said.
Platt agreed, adding that she was very pleased and likes it when people disagree with her.
“People having different views, it means they care,” she said. “And the fact that people stayed here afterward and were still talking about what the possibilities are — that is what you want.”
Not everyone is going to agree, Kornegay added.
“We have got to think what is best for the whole town as we move forward,” she said.
