Baseball parks have been silent this year because of COVID-19, but a pitch will be made to Mount Airy officials Thursday night regarding significant changes proposed for two well-traveled downtown streets.
Ironically, the motivation for those changes overall — eyed for Market and Willow Streets — is the coronavirus, according to city government documents prepared for a Thursday meeting of the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners to begin at 6 p.m.
The session will include a presentation by Main Street Coordinator Lizzie Morrison of the group Mount Airy Downtown Inc., which she says would boost COVID-19 relief efforts in the central business district. This specifically includes more outside dining space for restaurants in the area.
Market Street, once a rundown venue located to the west of the primary downtown artery, North Main Street, has come alive in recent years with the help of a city government revitalization project. This includes craft brewery and night-life offerings along with new retail shops.
Willow Street runs through the former Spencer’s textile complex, now being redeveloped by the city through efforts that have included the building of an upscale apartment complex, with other uses sought.
“I think now is the time to plan for additional outdoor dining space to help with restaurant relief,” Morrison advised in a memo to City Hall about the changes sought. “We may see another (coronavirus) spike in the fall, and I want to make sure that we are prepared should restaurants have to or need to limit their services to curbside pickup again.”
Among others, the proposals include making both Market and Willow one-way streets going north, the opposite of North Main. For Willow Street, this would only include the portion running from Franklin to Virginia streets, with parallel or angled parking to be created on its west side.
The plan further calls for closing Market Street during the weekends from April through October.
“I have spoken with all the merchants of Market Street who agree with this (plan),” Morrison added regarding the concept she says included input from city staff members such as Police Chief Dale Watson.
Removable picnic tables would be placed in the closed areas, with full details of the plan expected to be provided by Morrison at the meeting.
Among other agenda items, it will include:
• The presentation of a draft request for proposal (RFP) document to aid the redevelopment of the former Spencer’s property, by Bryan Grote, also of Mount Airy Downtown. This arose at a meeting in June, concerning an offer by the downtown group to aid Mount Airy’s efforts in finding new uses for the sprawling site, with the RFP a tool for soliciting potential developers.
• A discussion on parking spaces for a new multi-purpose arts center eyed near Blackmon Amphitheatre. The city commissioners recently rejected an initial plan for the Surry Arts Council facility, in a split vote, because it would have eliminated existing spaces at the Mount Airy Public Library.
• An official decision on a fund balance policy agreed to by the commissioners in a special meeting last week, which involves a city government surplus fund, or savings. The board wants to ensure it remains at a certain level rather than used for various purposes including balancing the municipal budget.
Virtual alternatives
Once again, Mount Airy officials will observe social-distancing guidelines for Thursday night’s meeting which means limited seating for the public on a first-come, first-served basis.
But citizens can still access it virtually and be engaged through other means.
It may be viewed via Webex and Facebook Live.
The webex link is https://mountairy.webex.com/mountairy/onstage/g.php?MTID=edda6e5885dd9c178bdc667d
95211b6b6
The password COMA should be submitted if prompted.
Citizens also can watch the meeting on Facebook Live on the City of Mount Airy, NC Facebook page (by logging into Facebook and going to the city’s page).
To listen in by telephone, call 1-408-418-9388 and use access code 129 351 3569 if prompted.
Links will be posted on www.mountairy.org the day of the meeting.
Citizens also are invited to make written or oral public forum comments. Written ones can be emailed by 10 a.m. Thursday to citypublic@mountairy.org, which will be read aloud by the attending city clerk during the forum.
All those who are not seated and wish to speak during the forum will be asked to wait outside for their names to be called to make their comments. All meeting attendees will be asked to sign in with a city employee manning the door.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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