Neighborhood Yard Sale!

The North Main Neighborhood
Salisbury, North Carolina 28144
www.facebook.com/NOMAnorthmain
www.NextDoor.com / NOMA North Main

No BlockWORK for NOMA This Fall. But BlockWORK Still Needs Us!

The North Main Neighborhood association (The Old North Salisbury Association)submitted an application to the City of Salisbury's Community Appearance Commission on behalf of NOMA for its annual award-winning BlockWORK program.  But alas...once again we were not selected!

What is BlockWORK?

BLOCKWORK is grassroots program of the Community Appearance Commission's Neighborhood Leaders Alliance (NLA) designed to bring community supporters together to promote cleaner and safer neighborhoods - one block at a time.  BlockWORK addresses needs along a single residential block, and invites 100s of volunteers to the neighborhood to clean, re-landscape, and perform minor repairs on homes along the selected block. Neighborhood leaders are encouraged to submit applications for a block of their choice to compete for an intensive work day with volunteers.

After careful review of applications, a selection committee chooses a block based on potential impact to the community, feasibility of the project and neighborhood support. The selection committee also reviews the ratio of owner-occupied vs. rental homes, and whether there is strong support from neighborhood representatives. Once a year, typically coinciding with United Way's 'Day of Caring' in October, the selected block is closed to traffic and truckloads of volunteers, plants and shrubs, mulch, and tools descend upon the neighborhood in a whirlwind transformation effort!

The North Main 2015 BlockWORK Application

Members of the Old North Salisbury Association, the neighborhood association for NOMA, submitted the 800 block of North Main Street. Unfortunately, the BlockWORK program is unlikely to ever happen right on a Department of Transportation (DOT) highway such as Main Street (NC 29), and is traditionally conducted in a side-street portion of a neighborhood.

816 N Main Street ~ abandoned 10+ years

The abandoned home at 816 N Main that is in serious stages of demolition-by-neglect (and is the site of a dangerous storm drain failure in the front yard and sidewalk area - not shown here), a home which the application suggested be repaired, is also beyond the scope of what the BlockWORK project can accomplish. (A new City initiative is in the works to address abandoned homes.)

The North Main application was summarily rejected.

Bad News / Good News

That's the bad news. The good news is that a very deserving block in the Chestnut Hill Neighborhood was selected. Chestnut Hill is going through major revitalization efforts thanks to its neighbors and residents, the many churches in the neighborhood, and to organizations such as the Historic Salisbury Foundation that has stayed demolition on several circa 1900 homes there.

BlockWORK is in its 5th year and was awarded national recognition (and $10,000 to the City of Salisbury!!!) for its work, its interactive nature, and what the program represents to Salisbury.

BlockWORK History

Prior BlockWORK projects have transformed:

• 200/300 Block S. Shaver Street - 2011
• 1000 Block S. Fulton Street - 2012
• 700/800 Block E. Franklin Street - 2013
• 900 Block W. Horah Street - 2014

E. 11th & N. Main Street Beautification Project

Some extra funding from the 2013 BlockWORK project was used in NOMA for the 11th Street Beautification Project that helped us get the new green space, sidewalks, curbing, and bus shelter at the corner of E. 11th Street and North Main Street.

The City of Salisbury additionally helped us with the demolition and subsequent mini-beautification project at the corner of W. Steele and Main, so we can't complain too greatly! We certainly appreciate the impact these projects have made to the neighborhood!

Prior NOMA Applications

800 Block of N. Lee Street

The North Main Neighborhood submitted the 800 Block of N. Lee Street during the very first run of BlockWORK in 2011. This block remains a great candidate for the project, and we hope it will get submitted again in future years.

900 Block of N. Jackson Street

We submitted dual applications in 2012, submitting the 900 Block of N. Jackson Street and the 1200 Block of N. Church Street.  The 1200 Block of Church is still a viable candidate, while on Jackson, someone purchased the (3) cute little brick cottages and invested substantially in sprucing them up nicely ~ making an enormous difference to this portion of the NOMA neighborhood.

1200 Block of N. Church Street

Both years, a small team of neighbors cruised up and down all 40+ blocks of the North Main Neighborhood, taking photographs & notes on which streets could be viable candidates...and there are several!

NOMA did not submit for BlockWORK 2013 & 2014, knowing the 11th Street Beautification Project was in full swing.

FUTURE BlockWORK for NOMA

Anyone can submit a block for BlockWORK....as long as we can show a strong support team, submit a block that can be closed to traffic, and offer a street that has homes that represent a feasible project, we should be able to secure a BlockWORK project in the future for North Main.

In the meantime...if you've never volunteered for the BlockWORK day ~ you're really missing out! What a fun event and so heartwarming to see the community come together to 'make a difference'!

SAVE ♦ THE ♦ DATE ♦ BlockWORK 2015

This year's BlockWORK will be held on 'Make a Difference Day' October 24th, 2015 in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood (S. Church Street).

Save the Date and join in ~ there is a mini-project for every skill level, from serving food and drink, registering helpers, or painting/scraping/planting/repairing!




What we give now, we're sure to get back one day when BlockWORK comes to NOMA!










The North Main Neighborhood (NOMA)
www.NextDoor.com
www.Facebook.com/NOMAnorthmain

North Main Home Wins a Preservation Award!

Congratulations to our NOMA neighbors!  Historic Salisbury Foundation will award Glen and Julie Upp one of several Private Preservation Awards for rehabilitation of the J.C. Cress House at 928 N. Main Street at the upcoming Preservation Awards Ceremony!

Historic Salisbury Foundation will honor the past year’s best historic preservation success stories at its 2015 Preservation Awards Ceremony. The event will be held May 28 at the Salisbury Station, 215 Depot Street with a reception beginning at 6:30 p.m., followed by the awards presentation.

Reservations are $20 per person and may be purchased at www.historicsalisbury.org, or by calling 704-636-0103 by May 22.

Award categories include:

• Commercial Revitalization through Historic Preservation 
• Private Preservation and Neighborhood Revitalization 
• Longtime Preservation Leader 
• Preservation Craftsmen and Professionals 
• Volunteers of the Year 
• President’s Award 

The J. C. Cress House at 928 N. Main St. is classified as a 'Contributing' property in the North Main National Register of Historic Places Inventory. There are four categories: Pivotal; Contributing; Intrusion; and Fill.

Built about 1912 by J. C. Cress, who also occupied 108 W. Steel Street, 928 N. Main Street was occupied by Cress into the 1940s. Sitting on a slightly raised lot, this home demonstrates the transition from the late Victorian to Colonial Revival domestic architecture which characterized the North Main district at the time. Although strongly Victorian in its asymmetrical composition, its projecting front gable, and its turned post porch with interesting carved gallery, its boxlike shape and high hip roof with projecting attic dormer are reminiscent of the large unadorned four squares influenced by the Colonial Revival, which were being constructed along N. Main Street.

For many years, the concrete block wall that ran down both sides of the property line at 928 N Main plagued the neighborhood. Previous owners began, bit by bit, to remove the wall, rumored to have been installed as a 'hate-wall' by a previous neighbor. The Upps have removed a much of the front portion of this wall in addition to many other restoration projects for this home.

The J. C. Cress house neighbors the circa 1911 C. W. Isenhour house at 926 N. Main Street, a 'Pivotal' property which was one of NOMA's first brick homes, this unique dwelling demonstrates the transition from late Victorian to more formal and restrained Colonial Revival architecture. The Insenhour house, or the 'Octagon House' as it is fondly referred to by NOMA neighbors, home is most noted for its its steep side gable roof and dominating octagonal central tower with tall tent roof. It was built about 1911 by C. W. Isenhour, part owner of Isenhour's Brick Yard in nearby Spencer. By the 1930s it was broken up into apartments. Current owners began a massive restoration project, which is again on hold, and the home is listed for sale 'as-is' for $69,900.

Glen and Julie Upp are officers in the newly reformed North Main neighborhood association, known as NOMA in recent years but once again called the Old North Salisbury Association. Glen holds the president's position and Julie is association secretary.  Other ONSA officers are Jeanette Vargas/Vice President, and Cherie Turner/Treasurer.

The ONSA Board of Directors are:

• Mike Pryor 
• LaDonna Mills 
• Jacqueline Millican 
• Michael Crabb 
• Robert Crum 
• Jenni Pfaff 
• Jeff Cannon 
• Kelly Cannon 
• Max Vargas 

Please join us in celebrating another star home and restoration in the North Main neighborhood!  Go NOMA~~!!!

NOMA The North Main Neighborhood 
NOMA North Main at www.NextDoor.com
NOMA The North Main Neighborhood on Facebook.com

What's New for NOMA - April 2015

Hello Friends & Neighbors!  Have we got NOMA NEWS for you!  Where should we start?!

The Salisbury Sculpture Show

If you've been driving around Salisbury, you might have noticed the new sculptures around town!  These are part of the annual Salisbury Sculpture Show!  The show changes every March when the new round of art is installed.  The 2015 show includes 19 works of art, including installations at all four colleges:  Catawba College, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, Hood Theological Seminary, and Livingstone College.

We learned, through our NOMA representative on the Salisbury Public Art Committee, that if neighborhood residents could pool resources to be able to pay for the installation, NOMA can be on the 2016 Salisbury Sculpture Show map with an beautiful sculpture of our own.

One of the recommended initiatives in the North Main Small Area Improvement Plan (approved by City Council July 2007), was to use public art to create a sense of arrival or sense of place at the NOMA neighborhood gateways.  We think the Salisbury Sculpture Show would be just the ticket to begin this initiative!  The neighborhood would have to raise roughly $1500 to be able to participate.

New Proposed Ordinance for Neglected Housing

Homes and buildings that are being allowed to deteriorate is called Demolition by Neglect, and it is a problem in many more places than just Salisbury. Currently, the only alternative for a neglected home in Salisbury is demolition, which may not always be the best choice!

At City Council Retreat this past February, members of the Salisbury Code Enforcement Division and the new Housing Advocacy Commission presented a plan for a new ordinance that will help us resolve this to a degree. 

If you support this ordinance, that would allow the City to repair and stabilize homes, please speak to your City Council on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at City Council Meeting / 4:00PM ~ or write a letter or email to City Council saying you support the implementation of the Stabilizing Neglected Housing ordinance.




New Salisbury Rowan Central School Office

The groundbreaking for the much discussed and long-awaited Central School Office was April 19th!  If you've been traveling the North Main Corridor, you might have noticed the demolition of the old Schulenburger Surveying Company building at 516 N Main, and unfortunately the home that we unsuccessfully  tried to have preserved and moved to one of our empty lots.  These demolitions cleared the way for the new school office!  This will be an important addition to our neighborhood gateway at the south end!  Hurrah!

Free Little Library™

NOMA is exploring the potential to install Free Little Libraries throughout the neighborhood!

What is a Little Free Library™? It’s a “take a book, return a book” gathering place where neighbors share their favorite literature and stories. In its most basic form, a Little Free Library is a box full of books where anyone may stop by and pick up a book (or two) and bring back another book to share.

There is a great resource for these programs at  http://littlefreelibrary.org/.  Before installing, we must be mindful of City of Salisbury line-of-sight restrictions....in other words we can't block the view of drivers...and along N. Main Street, we must be mindful of DOT sight-line restrictions.  But Catherine Garner/City of Salisbury looked into this for us so we can plan accordingly.  The Little Free Library website offers both completed library boxes and/or plans to construct one, but we bet we know talented craftspeople who could build these for us!

Historic House Plaques

The first round of Historic House Plaques are in!  You might see some installed already if you're out and about in the neighborhood!

If you are interested in obtaining one, please email themainneighborhood@gmail.com for an order form.




Historic Salisbury Foundation Homes on North Main

Historic Salisbury Foundation reports that the work on 1428 N Main is winding down, and that work crews will be moving soon to 1600 N Main Street.  Historic Salisbury Foundation is working to stabilize these homes so that we can avoid more 'holes' in the character of our neighborhood.  If you would like to volunteer to work on these houses, contact HSF at (704) 636-0103  or drop by 1428 N Main weekdays and see what can be done to help!  You can always donated to HSF's revolving fund that allows this important work to continue:  http://www.gofundme.com/heq7tg
 
Old North Salisbury Association

The next Old North Salisbury Association, the neighborhood association for NOMA, is May .  Contact ONSA president Glen Upp at
themainneighborhood@gmail.com for more info.  The association is sponsoring a YARD SALE on May 9th.  Email the association for information on how to be involved!

And speaking of Upcoming Meetings:

The next SNAG (Salisbury Neighborhood Action Group) is scheduled for Wednesday May 6th.   The Salisbury Police Department hosts a monthly SNAG meeting where you'll hear updates concerning drug investigations, criminal investigations, and code enforcement issues on the first Wednesday of each month. You also have the opportunity to voice your concerns regarding specific activities in your neighborhood!  The monthly SNAG meetings are open to the public! You are welcome and encouraged to attend! We love seeing our NOMA neighbors at these meetings!   Join SNAG at:

Salisbury Police Department
130 E Liberty Street
Salisbury NC 28144

And the next Salisbury City Council meeting with Open Public Forum is Tuesday May 19th at 4:00PM at City Hall (217 S Main Street). This is another great opportunity to keep abreast of happenings in the City and to be able to voice your thoughts to City Council members and City Manager!






 

See you around the neighborhood!

Historic Plaques Approved for North Main! Order Yours Now!

NOMA is implementing it's Historic House Plaque Program that the neighborhood initially began back in 2008. We're very excited to have this opportunity to enhance and highlight our history!

North Main Plaque Design - Plastic

The Historic House Plaque Program provides an opportunity to invest owners of historic or architecturally significant houses with pride, knowledge, and the ability to serve as conscious custodians of their house heritage. Plaques enhance the appearance of older homes while promoting community awareness of our local history.

The goal of the Historic House Plaque Program is to encourage an appreciation of older properties and to allow passersby a glimpse into the history of a home, property or neighborhood. The plaque program was approved by the City of Salisbury's Historical Preservation Commission in its regular monthly meeting on March 12, 2015.

Brooklyn South Square Plaque Design - Wood

The neighborhood association (once again known as The Old North Salisbury Association - ONSA) had to obtain approval because of the decision to go with a plastic sign that is out of compliance with the Historic Guidelines as they are written. But thankfully, Commission member saw the benefit of a longer-lasting plaque with this material, over the wood signs that are used in other districts. NOMA's Historic House Plaque program will help to identify older houses and structures within our community.

Order forms are available to NOMA residents by emailing:

themainneighborhood@gmail.com.

Applications may also be requested by mail at: House Plaque Program Old North Salisbury Association 928 N Main Street Salisbury NC 28144.

Neighborhood leaders are able to help conduct limited research to confirm your home's property history. We use the inventory of homes compiled by the National Registry of Historic Places when the North Main Historic District was originally outlined. Email either:

• themainneighborhood@gmail.com; or
• northmainneighborhood@gmail.com 

to get your home's date of construction and Historic Property name. (The Historic Property name is most often the name of the original resident and may include the name of the owner

at the time the historic overlay was put in place - such as Salisbury's circa 1092 Hambley-Wallace House.)

Reference materials are also available at the Rowan Public Library in the history room to assist homeowners in researching their house history and preparing the house plaque application form.

ONSA will place the order with the sign company after receiving confirmation in writing of the homeowner’s approval of the text for the plaque. The plaques are $25.00, but if you send your check for $35.00, this will cover your paid membership to ONSA and get you a vote in general elections.

Checks should be made out to: Old North Salisbury Association, and mailed, with your application, to 928 N Main Street, Salisbury NC 28144.

You have some choices whether to include on your plaque the year or circa year of construction only
or to also include the Historic Property name. A maximum of two lines of text will be approved for each plaque. All house plaques will be the same size and shape (12 x 15” with a horizontal orientation) with black text on an off-white background. Because this is a historical program, the names of the current owners should not be used.

ONSA will also provide, per the Historic Preservation Commission's amendment to the application, instructions for mounting the plaque to your home.

We think this program will highlight the many special homes we have in our neighborhood and bring awareness to the fact that our homes have been preserved, in many cases, for over 100 years!

Congratulations, NOMA, on another awesome step forward!

What's Next for NOMA? Exciting Times Ahead!

This is a great time to be in the North Main Neighborhood!  

The City of Salisbury, the Community Development Corporation, and our State DOT collaborated with NOMA on a North Main Neighborhood Impact Project that has resulted in a green space at the corner of East 11th Street and North Main Street, with new curbs, storm drains, and gutters, a new attractive bus shelter, and newly planted trees.  The long abandoned (and eyesore!) gas station was demolished.  What an improvement to this City of Salisbury corridor!

The Historic Salisbury Foundation has invested in not one, not two, but THREE endangered homes in the historic district that sits at the center of this 400+ home neighborhood.  Stabilization efforts through the Foundation's revolving fund will create more opportunities for families to live in our neighborhood.

The City's Community Appearance Commission put NOMA on their 2015-16 goals with specific references to creating pocket parks and working towards implementing the North Main Small Area Improvement Plan, approved by City Council in 2007 but not as yet implemented.  Neighbors signed a letter to Council this January, in time for Council's planning retreat, asking for implementation of the Improvement Plan in that it mimics the safety concerns for our residents that are outlined in the recently approved Complete Streets Plan for Long and East Innes Streets.

Citizens were proactive in speaking out to Code Enforcement, Salisbury Police, and City Council to get the burned and abandoned home and former service station at Main and W. Steele Street ~ resulting in the demolition of those buildings, and a new grade to the lot.

We have a Fresh Egg Farm-to-Home program!  Two Pigs Farm is furnishing NOMA with farm fresh eggs!  Email northmainneighborhood@gmail.com to find out more, and/or email twopigsfarm@gmail.com to order eggs in advance.  Eggs are delivered fresh every Friday night for Saturday morning availability!

The neighborhood has rallied with a new Board of Directors and new officers.  The Board returned to the moniker 'The Old North Salisbury Association', which was always the formal, long-standing, and registered name of

the neighborhood association.  The Board has plans are in the works to get date plaques for homes in our historic district.  For more information or to order a plaque, email themainneighborhood@gmail.com.   As part of a push for membership, you can write a check for $35.00 which will include your $10.00 membership donation and $25.00 for the plaque.


The new Board of Directors hosts a meeting monthly on the second Friday, rotating to different homes in the neighborhood.  The Board meets first at 6:00PM, and then opens to a general neighborhood meeting at 7:00PM, often following the meeting with refreshments and a social hour so that neighbors can get to know one another!

So it's a great time to be live in NOMA!  There will be many more exciting improvements coming our way!

Join us!













The North Main Neighborhood
northmainneighborhood@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/NOMAnorthmain 

Decorative Pedestrian Level Lighting on W Miller St

Hello Friends & Neighbors!

Here's an update on our potential new project! We got some pricing from the City on our proposed decorative lighting for Miller Street.

For those who did not attend the last neighborhood meeting, the Miller Street sidewalk project, taking the North Main neighborhood to the Parks, does not include any decorative pedestrian level lighting and we had SO hoped for this! They will be installing the conduit to provide for the lighting at a later date. It was suggested that perhaps getting the lighting is something our organization could do for ourselves. If we raised the funds, the City would purchase, install, and maintain the light fixtures. The lights are not cheap!! It looks like we might be looking at roughly $4,000.00 ~ $4,500.00 each! Ouch! And for Miller St alone we would need 6-8 per block or about 12 - 16 lights. This translates to about $80,000.00. That's a pretty ambitious fund raiser, but if the Fulton Heights neighborhood raised the funds for their Centennial Park on their own, perhaps its in our best interest to give it a try. Imagine how nice it would be to have this lighting down Miller Street to the Park! It might even set a precedent and the lighting could be continued on Jackson and up Lake Drive where the rest of the sidewalk project is planned! (By the way, we did the math for lighting that entire sidewalk project thinking we would get the Lake Dr residents involved and it comes out to be over $300,000!! - so just thought we'd concentrate on Miller St. for now!)

The City installed a recommended fixture on E. Council St. between Main and Long Streets so if you are out and about you can go by and see what they look like. They are also installed in the county-owned parking lot at Kerr and N. Main. The difference between regular street lights is that street lighting is much higher and intended to light the traffic way, not the sidewalks. The pedestrian level lighting is 12' high, spaced closer together, and usually far more attractive.

Our proposed Home & Garden Tour, Spring 2010, may be the perfect kick-off event for this. We can look into donations from other organizations too. If anyone is particularly talented at fund-raisers, grant-writing, or down-right begging - now is your chance to shine! Contact us here by commenting after this post, or email to oldnorthsalisbury@gmail.com.

You can also share your ideas and comments at the next Old North Salisbury Meeting, scheduled for Thursday August 27th at 7:00PM at 910 N. Main St. We hope to see you there!

So Much Happening!

The Old North Salisbury Association, the North Main Neighborhood Association, met last night to discuss new projects going forward. We have been very successful in our effort towards getting the new sidewalk and crosswalk at W. Miller St and all who worked towards this should be very proud of your achievements! Here are some of the exciting new topics we covered last night:

1. A possible fund raising effort to put decorative, pedestrian level lighting along the new sidewalk project. We are in the process of obtaining cost estimates from the City to help us determine what is needed and how to go about it.



2. We discussed officially changing the Association name, currently the Old North Salisbury Association, to North Main or NoMa because it is more relative and meaningful. We are checking to see if Old North Salisbury was legally incorporated and what a name change would mean in that regard. We've asked for serious thought and a final vote at the next meeting.



3. Putting together a "Welcome Packet" for new neighbors



4. Dividing the neighborhood into Quadrants with Quad-Captains in order to better communicate with folks throughout the neighborhood.



5. We discussed getting more involved with the Police Department and getting them more involved in our neighborhood. We need to send representatives to the SNAG meetings (see earlier posting) and CALL-CALL-CALL 911 when anything even APPEARS to be amiss in the neighborhood. The squeaky wheel will get the grease!



6. We unanimously voted to include the west side of N. Jackson St. in the neighborhood. Our boundaries before this included the east side of N. Jackson but not the west. That portion of neighborhood currently is not supported by a neighborhood group or association.



7. We are looking at hosting a NoMa Home/Garden Tour in Spring 2010! How exciting - stay tuned for more!



8. We agreed to meet monthly on the 4th Thursday of the month, except for November & December when meetings will be scheduled as needed. A Christmas Party may take the place of a November/December meeting.

In addition to the above, we were very pleased and proud to have Maggie Blackwell join us as a guest. Maggie was president of the highly successful Fulton Heights Neighborhood Association and shared some of her insights and successes with us. We could not be more grateful to Maggie for sharing her time and wisdom with us. Maggie is running for City Council this fall. Not only did we get to meet and speak with this wonderful intelligent woman who shared with us her neighborhoods strengths but we got to know our candidate better as well! Thanks, Maggie!


We perhaps had our biggest turn-out in recent years at last night's meeting. So Cool! For anyone who thinks these meetings are stodgy and stuffy - they are not! We conduct the meetings in a casual atmosphere (last night we were scrunched in Sue McHugh's living room on Main St.) and everyone is welcome ~ all ideas are welcome ~ and the energy is positively electrifying! Thanks to everyone in attendance from all the corners of our neighborhood!
The next meeting will be on August 27th. We'll post the details here as that date approaches.
THANK YOU NOMA!

North Main St Neighborhood Meeting - Apr 13th - 6:30PM - City Park Rec Center

Be sure to come to the neighborhood meeting this Monday to hear the update about the new sidewalks (at last!) planned for West Miller Street! We've been hearing about these improvements to the neighborhood for some time and now it appears very close to happening! This is your opportunity to hear about it first-hand from the City engineers and planners - your opportunity to ask questions.

The meeting will be held this Monday April 13th at 6:30 PM at the City Park Recreation Center on 316 Lake Drive in Salisbury.

We'll be hearing about the sidewalks and proposed crosswalk at North Main Street and West Miller Street. The sidewalk is the first step in a plan to connect our Old North Salisbury neighborhood to the city parks and the Salisbury Greenway system. After we get the West Miller Street sidewalk, we'll see more sidewalks go in along the 900 block of North Jackson Street along the City Park edge, then up and around Lake Drive and over to Hurley Park. The planned sidewalk improvements will provide safer, more convenient access to the parks for our neighborhood residents. These changes were recommended by our neighborhood residents who took part in the North Main Small Area Improvement Plan completed in 2007. The project is being funded by Salisbury City Council and a grant from the North Carolina Health & Wellness Fund as part of the Fit Community initiative. Members of the Old North Salisbury Association attended several of the grant meetings and were instrumental in having Salisbury become a grant recipient.

This is an exciting time for our community and we hope you will find the time to attend this meeting to both show your support and learn more about the whole process. Please come! The more we know, the more we can help initiate more improvements like this in the Old North Salisbury - North Main Street neighborhood.

We hope to see you there!

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!