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Grove Hill mayor blames courthouse for parking woes A slightly revised streetscape plan for downtown Grove Hill received mixed reviews last Thursday night. The most vocal comments were still critical of the plan. Grove Hill Mayor Lamar Hudson wasted little time in blaming county employees for the parking woes around the courthouse. With barely a welcome to the crowd attending the hearing to offer the plan, he recognized two county commissioners, Paul Bradford and Rhondell Rhone, and said maybe they could help the parking situation by getting their employees to park somewhere other than in the parking areas in front of the courthouse. The meeting was supposed to be about the plan. Urban Forester Michelle Floyd tried to moderate for the Grove Hill Beautification Committee.
Beautification, pedestrian, vehicle needs She said the plan, drawn by Mobile landscape artist Terry Plauche, addresses the need for beautification, pedestrian and motor vehicle traffic flow. The town will file for grant funds for the project by the end of September. Hudson explained, later in the meeting, that the estimated cost of the project is $500,000. A grant would fund 80 percent, or $400,000, with the town paying $100,000.
Plan not 'set in stone' Floyd said the preliminary design "isn't set in stone" and could be modified "right up until they are pouring cement." The plan eliminates the Main Street center street parking, replacing it with a brick sidewalk surrounded by a grassy area. It attempts to make the World War I monument more accesible to pedesterians Floyd said the town parking lot behind Andrews Associated Foods that is hardly used and could be utilized more if other parking is eliminated. Kendall Bush spoke up and said the plan would "kill the traffic flow" downtown and around the courthouse. "You've got to get people in and out, you've got to get access," he said. "It is the most ill-conceived concept I've seen in a long time," he added. Mayor Hudson countered that something has to be done. "We are going to look just like Repton," if some changes aren't made, he said. Even if the plan is OK'd and grant funds obtained, it would be 2008 before any work can be done, Hudson said. Karen Woods, owner of the Old Democrat Bakery and Deli across from the courthouse, countered this plan isn't the way to help Grove Hill. "I know of three [downtown businesses] that will have to close if there is nowhere to park," she said. Jerry Andrews, owner of Andrews Associated Foods on Main Street was at the meeting but made no comments. He has said previously that eliminating parking would hurt his business. Jami Bradford of Shae's Rays, a Main Street gift shop, was not able to attend but sent her suggestion for modifying the plan by keeping center Main Street parking. Monument an obstacle Someone suggested the monument was an obstalce to traffic flow and that it could be moved. Floyd said that had been proposed in a previous plan and met with stiff opposition. She said she was told it would be easier to move the courthouse than the monument. Hudson focused on county employee parking in front of the courthouse as a major problem. He also said the courthouse's new annex took up a valuable parking lot. He said the county should make employees park in a designated area. Commissioner Paul Bradford said the county is willing to work with the town, "with anybody" on the issue but said the county can't tell employees they can't park in public parking areas. Why not, someone asked. Other government agencies, hospitals and big businesses designate parking areas for their employees. Rhone said, "I see only one or two parking in front of the courthouse. They must be parking on the backside." A check of the front of the courthouse several mornings around 8 o'clock revealed that several elected officials and employees were parking in some of the spaces in the slots in front of the First United Security Bank and the Old Democrat Bakery and Deli but not in the "one hour only" spaces directly in front of the courthouse. But not all of the spaces in front of the bank or the deli were taken and employees of other businesses in the area,-including area businesses-were observed parking in the spots too. Rhone said that once the courthouse annex is completed, there should be about 70 parking spaces opened around the courthouse. He did not know how many were in the lot that was taken up by the new construction. No one seemed to know how many spaces the proposed plan would eliminate in the downtown area either. Loss of 40 parking spaces The Democrat 's editor counted about 120 spaces from the Jackson Street intersection to the courthouse. A count of spaces on the preliminary drawing shows about 78, or a loss of over 40 with the new design. No one seemed to connect the lack of adequate parking now with the logic of reduced parking that the plan would cause if enacted. At one point in the discussions there was even talk of building a parking deck in the gully behind the courthouse. That debate was supposedly put to bed when the jail was considered to be built there, with an accompanying parking deck. The cost was deemed prohibitive and the engineering unlikely. Kendall Bush asked about maintenance of the proposed plan. Floyd said it could be made easier depending on the type of plants used. However, no one seemed to have an idea of the cost. The pitiful conditions of the present planter boxes were used as an example of what happens without proper maintenance. No one would water planters Debbie Powell of the beautification committee offered some defense. "Not a single person, not a single business, was willing to walk out and water the plants" and they died, she said. An irrigation system in the plan would help with that problem. Bush countered that sprinkler heads have to be kept up too. Bush asked why the town couldn't take the $100,000 it would match with a grant and spend it on a less elaborate plan. Ken Bush, his father, said Thomasville's downtown is prettier but "doesn't have all these trees." Floyd responded that she knew of at least six trees that would be nixed in the proposed plan. The two Bushes, by the way, are brother and father to Old Democrat Bakery and Deli owner Karen Woods. District Attorney Spence Walker, who owns a building on Main Street, wondered if some planter areas could be spaced along the center street parking lanes so that all of the parking there would not be eliminated. The proposal also extends eastward along Main Street to the Grove Hill Town Hall. One of the major changes in that area is a reworked entrance to the post office. Preston Webb, the post office's landlord, objected. "These old people will never get in and out there. They will all wreck!" Mayor Hudson and others continued to complain about county employee parking. Finally, Commissioner Bradford said the county wanted to work with the town on any plan but that no one has asked for the county's input or participation. "We need to sit down with the town council and see what we can do," he said. "But no one has approached us about doing this." He finally said he was leaving, that he saw no advantage to staying and being belittled and fussed at. Floyd, who had tried to moderate, was upset by the proceedings, and said outside of the meeting that she was not prepared for the harsh words that were voiced.
In addition to the mayor, two of the five council members also attended the meeting-Pat McGraw and Cynthia Jackson.
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