N Main & 11th Street Intersection Improvements ~ Coming Soon!!

A small pilot project has been taking off behind the scenes. Earlier in the year, Sue McHugh, Sean Meyers, Tim & Laurie Klaus, Andrew Waters, and Jenni & Brian Pfaff, met with city staff, Historic Salisbury Foundation director Brian Davis, and representatives from the Community Appearance Commission to kick off a small NOMA Main Street beautification project. Here’s where we stand: 

Lynn Raker, Senior Planner with the City of Salisbury, has been working with other city staff and DOT to get streetscape prep work completed so we can “beautify” our 11th St intersection. Lynn has preliminary approval for 2 raised corner planters on commercial properties south of 11th St. We’re looking into the possibility of taking down the empty building across from the market at 11th street, the old A.T.I.C structure. The quote for the A.T.I.C. demolition is $10,000 including finish grade, seed and straw, and Lynn is working with DOT on replacement of collapsed storm drain at curb line. She has not yet talked with property owner, Mr. Helderman, about his desire to proceed with the demo, but that’s next. Long story short, improvements at this intersection are step-by-step, abut we’re moving forward and Lynn will keep us posted on progress. 

A proposed part of this project was to perhaps paint a house along the N. Main Street corridor. If there are owner-occupied properties on N. Main in need of repair/paint, where owner qualifies as low-moderate income and is willing to sign lien, the Community Development Corp (CDC) has funds to make the repairs. It’s a bid process, so volunteer labor would not be needed unless we just want to participate as community building event. Do you know any likely candidates? 2-3 of these could make a big difference to our Main Street corridor. We were originally looking at only 1-story houses, but we’re now told that a 2-story house is no problem. The CDC can bid out the work as specified, so if painting is to be done by volunteers, that would not be in the bid. 

We’ll need to gather up volunteers to focus on the streetscape work at 11th Street. We don’t have a date yet, but we’ll post as soon as we know!

https://nomanorthmain.nextdoor.com 

themainneighborhood@gmail.com

Salisbury's Historic Grant Program Suspended This Year!

For close to ten years, the City of Salisbury has been able to offer matching grants to help historic district property owners with basic exterior maintenance and repairs.  In addition to Historic Preservation Incentive grants for residential areas, two additional grant programs have been available for commercial properties.  This year, faced with budget constraints that meant the possibility of cuts to vital services, The city Council was not able to fund these important programs.  However, we are hopeful that funding can be reinstated in the next city budget. 

The Historic Preservation Incentive Grants were offered to those historic districts within Salisbury city limits that fall under a local historic designation.  There are five local historic districts in Salisbury:

• Brooklyn South Square
• Ellis Street Graded School 
• North Main Historic District
• West Square
• Downtown Salisbury

Not all of the North Main neighborhood (NOMA) is in the North Main Historic District.  The neighborhood is bounded by the Norfolk Southern Railway at its east and south boundaries, N. Jackson Street to the west, and the Spencer Town Line at the north border.  The North Main Historic District lies along both sides of N. Main Street from the 600 block to the 1700 block, and one block to the east.  The North Main Neighborhood Association supports ALL of the interests of the neighborhood, historic or otherwise.

Watch city updates for whether the Historic Preservation Grant Incentives will be reinstated in 2013.  You can also contact:

Janet Gapen 704.638.5230
jgape@salisburync.gov

Next SNAG Meeting ~ Wednesday June 6 @ 9:30 AM

The next monthly meeting (1^st Wed. of every month  - except July) of the Salisbury Neighborhood Action Group (SNAG) will be on Wednesday, June 6, 2012 beginning at 9:30 a.m. in the conference room at the Salisbury Police Department on Lee Street, corner of Lee & Liberty Streets. The meeting, which is open to all Salisbury residents, will be led by Chief Rory Collins.

The meeting consists of two parts: 

1) Officers from each of the Salisbury Police Department teams report on the previous month’s activities, and 

2) A representative City of Salisbury Code Enforcement answers questions and addresses concerns.

Encourage each and all of your friends and neighbors to plan attend so that we can properly express our concern about nuisance or criminal activity in NOMA.  Yes, the SNAG meetings are scheduled at a tough time for the working public, but if you can make it and let your voice be heard, it is well worth it toward improving the quality of life in the North Main Neighborhood.

Hurray! Miller St. Sidewalk and Crosswalk Project Finally Surfacing!!

We've been hearing the promises regarding the improvements along N. Main St. and Miller St. for months now and many of our neighbors have expressed frustration at the snail's pace with which the project has moved along. (Truthfully the snail probably moved faster!) It has just been announced that, finally, Salisbury City Council is expected to award the contract this Tuesday July 21st for installation of the new pedestrian crosswalk across N. Main St. at Miller St. and the new sidewalk along the south side of W. Miller St. from N. Main St. to Jackson St. Hurray!!!

The project is connected to the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund's Fit Community Grant, which was awarded to the city last year. Connected with the sidewalk and crosswalk is a new walking program being rolled out by the City's Parks & Recreation Department - Striders for Life. The project ties into the many physical improvements planned for the N. Main Street area in the City's Small Area Improvement Plan and will additionally encourage healthier lifestyles for our residents here. Residents young and old will be able to get to City Park and Hurley Park via the sidewalks where currently they must walk in the streets to get to the parks.

The construction will reduce the width of West Miller Street from 34 to 26 feet with the addition of a 5-foot-wide sidewalk and a 3-foot planting strip. We are very excited to see this project finally reach reality!

Council meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 217 S. Main St. where the project will be awarded. It would be wonderful if many of our NoMa residents could be there to witness the award and perhaps offer a round of applause!

Sidewalks & Crosswalks Coming to W. Miller St.

Hey All!

As you know, the long promised sidewalks and crosswalks are coming to the W. Miller St crossing at N. Main St.!!!

The Old North Salisbury Association's President, Sue McHugh of N. Main St., attended a meeting at Salisbury City Hall today as part of the Fit Community Grant Partnership that is funding this improvement to our neighborhood. Here is what we learned:

A Public Neighborhood Meeting is scheduled for Monday April 13th at the City Park Recreation Center's Activity Room from 6:30PM - 7:30PM (or maybe 8:00PM if question/answer period extends). A postcard from the City is expected very soon - maybe next week that will invite our neighborhood participation and some brief details. Most critically, we need to have our W. Miller St. residents on board with the changes as they will be most directly impacted by the work.

The impact should be minimal. The residents on the south side of the street will be asked to sign easement papers that give the City permission to work on the property. Now in truth - most of the work will be on City property, however this is a courtesy measure should any disruption occur to privately held property. If such disruption does occur, it is general policy to put it back BETTER than it was. Some driveways will be temporarily torn up, however they City will place a stone entryway to the drives so that people can still get up into their property. They may be required to park in the street for one day as concrete is poured. Additionally, where W. Miller St. connects to N. Jackson St will be temporarily closed during the construction.

The sidewalk will be 5-feet wide with a 2-foot planting strip or lawn between it and the curb. Pedestrian level street lighting, something we had really hoped for, is not budgeted for but will be considered as the project moves forward. And speaking of moving forward . . . we should expect groundbreaking in May 2009! The project should take 3-months to complete so we are looking at perhaps an August completion date.

We saw drawings that show the sidewalks and some of the other engineering work we may not often consider - storm drainage, moving utilities such as electric/phone/cable - and the positioning of fire hydrants and sewer lines.

Next year, as Phase II of the project emerges, we'll see additional sidewalks along N. Jackson St. at City Park to Lake Drive and along Lake Drive to Hurley Park. This is when we may expect to see signage incorporated - like neighborhood entrance signs!

The overall aim is to ultimately connect the North Main neighborhood to the Salisbury Greenway and to incorporate a very fine-tuned large-scale walking program.
Please make EVERY EFFORT to come to the April 13th Neighborhood Meeting! Encourage your friends, neighbors, relatives, EVERYBODY to attend. This is our first structural neighborhood revision toward the North Main Small Area Improvement Plan and we NEED TO SUPPORT IT!

Thanks, All!