Join Us ~ Volunteer Work Day ~ January 24th

Please join NOMA in a Volunteer Work Day! 

Saturday January 24th 

8:00am ~ 12:00pm 

Three North Main Sites

♦  1131 N. Main Street / Tree Planting

NOMA joins the City of Salisbury and the Community Development Corporation in the continuation of the beautification project we've been doing at the corner of E. 11th Street and North Main Street.  The abandoned A.T.I.C. gas station has been demolished, new storm drains installed, and new gutters take the place of old driveway aprons (Thank you, NC DOT!).  The new green space has been graded and seeded.  Now we get to do the fun stuff!  Plant trees!  (If you'd like to try something fun, go to Google maps and type in 1131 N. Main Street, Salisbury NC ~ and go to 'Street View'.  When you first land on Main Street, it's a beautiful summer day, crepe myrtles in bloom, and as you travel north on Main Street, our A.T.I.C. gas station is there....but when you cross the 11th Street intersection, it becomes a wintery morning.  Turn around to the south again...and the gas station is gone!  You can see some of the work in progress!)

♦  1428 N. Main Street / General Exterior Clean Up

NOMA joins the Historic Salisbury Foundation in their efforts, via their Revolving Fund, to stabilize the circa 1900 home at 1428 N. Main Street.  Work has already begun in repairing windows and chimney flashings.  We can help too!

♦  1600 N. Main Street / General Exterior Clean Up

NOMA joins the Historic Salisbury Foundation in their efforts, via their Revolving Fund, to stabilize the circa 1912 home at 1600 N. Main Street.  We can help too!  We'll be doing general exterior clean up...clipping, pruning, weeding, and trimming!

Please plan to meet at 1600 N Main Street at 8:00 am or anytime you can make it between 8am and noon on January 24th.  Please bring rakes, gloves, and hand pruners, etc., and make sure your name is on all tools. 

This event is rain or shine!

Tell your friends, tell your neighbors!  

This is a come-one, come-all event!

The North Main Neighborhood Association
northmainneighborhood@gmail.com

Code Enforcement and Property Demolition at 108 W. Steele Street

At our November NOMA meeting, we discussed the blight to the neighborhood represented by the property at 108 W. Steele Street that was damaged in a fire in August 2013 yet left standing until now. We have had several differing reports as to the progress of its demolition.

Neighbors attended a Historic Preservation Commission public forum on July 10, 2014 to be able to provide input on a request to the Commission from Code Enforcement to demolish the (3) buildings on the 108 W. Steele Street parcel.  After much discussion and much to our dismay, the HPC stayed the demolition for 65 days.

We've been calling Code Enforcement and getting conflicting information about the proposed demolition.  We've been told several times that a Request for Bids had been posted for (12) city properties, and that 108 W. Steele was on this list.  Yet when we asked again when that might be, we were told that 108 W. Steele had to be inspected in order to properly identify components of the demolition.  When we asked again, we were told that ONLY the house structure was to come down.  Knowing the former gas station on the property is an enormous safety issue, with no flooring or roofing in place, we were surprised and disappointed.

At Council Meeting on Tuesday, Nov 18th, a NOMA representative besought City Council to address our abandoned house issues along the Main Street corridor, and requested that they additionally work to remove street weeds along the main drag.  We expressed our gratitude that Historic Salisbury Foundation is focusing stabilization efforts on some of our 'loose gems', but that certainly this private foundation cannot be expected to correct the entire situation.  Our North Main Street corridor is the last remaining residential corridor into the City, and is the city's chance to make a first impression to visitors to the NC Transportation Museum to the north, and the coming Rowan Central School Office at our south boundary. 

Council members assured us that the property at 108 W. Steele Street was to be demolished in 3-weeks, yet again said that only the house structure was to come down. To follow through, NOMA resident Sue McHugh contacted Chris Branham/City of Salisbury Code Enforcement on this demolition, and was told the house would be gone in three weeks, and further clarified the status: Code Enforcement has (9) houses on the demolition list. An asbestos study had to be done for each. Luckily our 108 W Steele does not have an asbestos issue. The demolition projects have gone out for bid and bids were due December 1st. We learned that, while it may additional time after bid closings to finalize demolition plans, 108 W Steele Street is first on the list to come down. The demolition will include the former gas station that faces N. Main Street, the house that faces W. Steele Street, but will NOT include the small free-standing residential garage.Utilities have been removed from the site, and demolition should begin soon.  Central Piedmont Builders is the contractor for the job, the same contractor doing the restoration and up fit to the Bernhardt Hardware Building in the 100 block of North Main Street.  To date, demolition on 108 W. Steele Street has not begun.

While we regret losing properties to Demolition by Neglect such as this abandoned property on W. Steele Street, we felt this property was a safety and criminal hazard to the neighborhood.  The investment required to (#1) purchase the property, and (#2) reconstruct and stabilize the property, unfortunately far outweighed the total property worth.  

Neighbors were diligent in calling both the Salisbury Police Department and Salisbury Code Enforcement with concerns about the property.  We indeed have learned through this process that the squeaky wheel does, in fact, get the grease!







NOMA ~ The North Main Neighborhood
northmainneighborhood@gmail.com