NOMA Residents Successful in Fighting for the Integrity of the Neighborhood!

North Main Street in Salisbury, North Carolina is the last remaining residential corridor into the City of Salisbury. Of the residential neighborhoods that developed along East and West Innes Street and North and South Main Street during the period of 1900-1930, North Main Street alone has survived the encroachment of urban development to retain much of its original character and appearance. The architectural fabric, created during the process of suburbanization which took place in Salisbury between 1900 and 1930, is still largely intact providing North Main Street with a rich and varied character worthy of preservation. North Main Street is the anchoring corridor through the North Main Neighborhood (NOMA), and is the gateway to the City of Salisbury from the north.

On Monday May 12, 2015, we learned that Flowers Baking Company at 1405 N Main Street had plans to remove a wood stockade fence that encircles the property, and replace it with an 8' high chain link fenced, topped with another 3 feet of barbed wire. Because Flowers Bakery is in the historic overlay that makes up the North Main Historic District, the company's owners had to seek a COA (Certificate of Appropriateness) from the City of Salisbury.

The case was to be heard in Public Forum at the City's Historic Preservation Commission meeting on Thursday May 14th at 5:15 ~ first on the agenda!  This gave neighbors and concerned citizens very little time to 'rally the troops' against this intrusive change to integrity of our residential neighborhood.

While, yes ~ we are largely a residential district, we have a small commercial hub in the center of the Main Street run from north to south, basically from about 11th Street to 15th Street. We would actually like to develop this into a village center, with attractive and friendly businesses. Wouldn't we love to see a neighborhood coffee shop or a green grocer here! A florist! So we don't wish to construe that we have anything against the Flowers Bakery...we love having them here! But barbed wire? NO! We believe this sends the wrong message about the culture of our neighborhood.

Several residents attended the Historic Preservation Commission meeting yesterday, hearing the case presented by Flowers Bakery to the commission, and voicing concerns regarding the affect this type of fencing would have on our neighborhood. Here are some things we learned:

• The City of Salisbury's Land Use Code says: "Sec. 22-8. - Barbed wire fences: It shall be unlawful for any owner, agent or occupant of any lot or premises to erect, maintain or allow on such premises, along any street or alley, any barbed wire or barbed wire fence." 
• The North Main Small Area Improvement Plan devotes a section of its Recommendations and Implementation Strategies (Chapter 3) to this commercial section of the district, saying:
• Façade designs need to be more in keeping with the architectural fabric and scale of other historic buildings on North Main Street. 
• We need to encourage developers to rehabilitate commercial buildings along North Main Street in such a manner that helps attract quality, low-impact businesses and services, and encourage redevelopment that brings vibrant, eclectic gathering places such as coffee houses, bookstores and similar destinations.
• Businesses need to ensure that development decisions take into account neighborhood needs and desires, especially those related to commercial and industrial land uses. 
• Flowers Bakery keeps a fleet of delivery trucks on their property.  They said they had seen a high break-in rate here, however citizens attending local SNAG (Salisbury Neighborhood Action Group) meetings with Salisbury Police said that statistics had been reported that crime rates had gone down in the neighborhood. Flowers Bakery amended their statement saying that this was over a nine-year period.

Concerned citizens, from NOMA and other surrounding neighborhoods, wrote to the City with comments such as this:

"This type of fence will negatively impact their business, as it will make potential patrons feel unwanted emotionally. The property is small enough that the fence will visually overpower in a negative way the prettiness of the brick building itself. It will also make passersby feel as if they are in a high crime area, so they will not be as interested in stopping in to make purchases. Also, it will detract potential homeowners who would live in their properties from purchasing in our neighborhood. We are actively working to increase our owner-occupied homes, and this will work against the vision we have for our neighborhood. I advocate replacing the wooden fence with a new one of the same makeup, as it adds to the visual appeal of the business and makes people feel welcome to the store, as well as adding visual appeal to the neighborhood as a whole."  ~ L. Klaus, North Main Neighborhood

"In any neighborhood, appearance has a great deal to do with the way outsiders consider the area. How neatly the yards are kept, how well the homes are maintained, how friendly the neighborhood appears are all factors that encourages people to think highly of the area as well as possibly considering moving into the locale. Fences are a large part of appearance....To borrow slightly from Robert Frost might be important when we ask if fences make good neighbors......yes, they might, but an inappropriate fence can do more than make a poor neighbor; it can affect an entire neighborhood. It can change one's perspective of a neighborhood from friendly to 'rough'.  

While chain link fences might be in some neighborhoods, putting one in with barbed wire certainly does not make a visitor to the community think of friendly and safe. Many people drive along the North Main corridor daily and it seems that the City of Salisbury would want to have this entrance into town appear as welcoming as possible. So, while 1402 North Main may need a fence, could we not consider one more neighborhood friendly....one that encourages NOMA rather than discouraging it and its residents?" ~ D. Lesley, Ellis Street Graded School Neighborhood

HPC board members analyzed the input from the hearing, and long story short, and voted unanimously to deny the request for chain link & barbed wire fencing. 

We did learn that the Flowers Baking Company plans to make major renovations to the store.  We hope they will work with the neighborhood and with our city's Historic Preservation, Planning, and Code folks to ensure the renovations encourage the positive development we know will help attract more home owners and quality businesses to the district.

We heard from Flowers Bakery representatives that they have a lot of 'walk-up' business.  Well of course they do!!  And we wish to keep the pedestrian friendly nature of our neighborhood alive!  We strongly wish to promote a commercial sector that might become a little thriving hub for the neighborhood, encouraging development that is pedestrian oriented and blends harmoniously with surrounding housing. 

Viewed at their broadest, neighborhood commercial districts should be designed to: 

• Create a pedestrian-oriented environment. 
• Mitigate negative off-site impacts from commercial establishments to the greatest extent feasible. 
• Provide for monitoring and enforcement of any potential negative off-site impacts. 

Another interesting comment we heard from the Flowers Bakery representatives:  "We didn't think anyone from the neighborhood would show up at this hearing."  We proved that not only would we show up, but we care enough to research the facts and protect the culture and integrity of our neighborhood!

Thank you, NOMA!


 

The North Main Neighborhood
www.north-main.org
www.facebook.com/NOMAnorthmain