STUART — Motorists may no longer be able to turn right from U.S. 1 onto Palm City Road if state and Martin County officials approve a plan presented to Stuart city commissioners Monday night.

“This is the shortest shortcut from U.S. 1 to Palm City,” Commissioner Jeff Krauskopf said. “What’s the biggest thing we can do to reduce traffic?”

The shortcut is so popular that Palm City-bound traffic backs up during rush hour, blocking entrances to several condominiums and other residential side streets.

Those motorists would be forced to continue south to Kanner Highway, then turn right onto Monterey Road to cross the Palm City Bridge.

That would provide relief for residents along Palm City Road but do little for the motorists, who already face a long line of traffic on Kanner Highway waiting to turn onto Monterey Road.

Consulting engineer Joe Capra said more turn lanes would be needed at major intersections in the Palm City Road area.

The plan already faces one obstacle because state Department of Transportation officials don’t favor eliminating right turns off U.S. 1.

“Just because the DOT doesn’t like the idea now doesn’t mean they won’t change their minds,” Commissioner Kelli Glass-Leighton said.

If right turns are still allowed off U.S. 1, there could be roundabouts on Palm City Road near U.S. 1, Indian Grove Drive, Manor Drive and Winnachee Drive, Capra said. The latter three streets connect Palm City Road and Kanner Highway.

More landscaping and sidewalks could make the road more friendly to pedestrians, Capra said.

“I don’t know about having three or four roundabouts,” Mayor Eula Clark said. “I’d like to see information on traffic volumes, how many are going straight down Palm City Road to get to Palm City.

“I’d like to see the impact of the Indian Street bridge when it opens,” she said.

Capra said a traffic circle near U.S. 1 is “just an idea.”

“It would slow traffic before it gets on Palm City Road and people won’t want to go unless they have a real reason,” he said.

The plans will be subject to more scrutiny and probably public hearings before city commissioners approach the county and state.

Palm City Road is owned and maintained by the county but could be transferred to the city.

In 1954, Jean Cocteau wrote of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, “she has, through a sort of miracle, worked in the world of fashion following rules that only seemed valid for painters, musicians and poets.”

Missing from his observation is the fact that painters, musicians and poets such as Salvador Dali, Francis Picabia, Igor Stravinsky, Guillaume Apollinaire and Cocteau himself just happened to be some of Chanel’s closest friends.

And now a new show at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris aims to convey how these avant-garde artists also influenced the creation of arguably the most famous perfume in the world: Chanel No. 5.

In the age of the fashion blockbuster exhibition, No. 5 Culture Chanel represents a departure. There are neither mannequins nor a flashy mise-en-scène. The walls have been left bare and the objects – from a bronze Brancusi head to the original, rounder No. 5 flaçon – are housed in a sprawling runway of faceted glass vitrines.

Chanel enlisted Piet Oudolf, who was responsible for the landscaping of New York’s High Line elevated park, to create a subterranean garden that will remain a permanent part of the Palais de Tokyo (the 7,000 flowers and plants are still getting used to their new home).

Artistic director Jean-Louis Froment says he wanted to get past the story of the scent’s creation (Chanel literally chose the fifth scent that was presented to her by perfumer Ernest Beaux) and explore how the perfume defined a period of great change and radical ideas.

“It is the portrait of an object,” Froment explains in an interview, adding that he wanted to distance the show from the ad campaigns that have helped secure the scent’s status over time.

No. 5 Culture Chanel is the fifth in an international series of museum exhibitions mounted by Chanel (the previous four took place in Moscow, Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou). The number parallel is not a coincidence; the show opened on May 5 (05/05), the same day the perfume was first offered for sale 82 years ago in the designer’s boutique at 31 rue Cambon. If not entirely superstitious, Chanel believed strongly in symbols (her apartment above the store, preserved in perfect condition, is filled with talismans symbolizing health and good fortune).

When Chanel No. 5 debuted in 1921, women were accustomed to wearing perfumes that smelled of a single flower. No. 5 was comparatively complex; not only did it contain several floral notes – jasmine, rose, ylang ylang – it also included aldehydes, synthetic organic compounds that added body to the scent and made it more enigmatic.

Chanel as a fashion brand may be among the most clearly defined of them all: the tweed suits, the little black dresses, the pearls, the camellia flower motif. So it is curious to see how the theme of abstraction works as an essential counterpoint. Fragrance, after all, is arguably even more indecipherable than a cubist painting.

The abstraction also plays out familiarly in pencil drawings by Picasso, Apollinaire’s calligrams and Tristan Tzara’s Dada journal. Of the 220 artifacts on display, the majority help bolster the notion that Chanel believed that the perfume world was prime for its abstract period, too.

Items included from Chanel’s later years include Warhol’s silk-screened interpretations of the bottle circa 1985 and a shot of Marilyn Monroe provocatively dabbing herself with the juice before the premiere of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (it was Monroe who, unsolicited, told journalists in 1954 she wore “five drops of Chanel No. 5” to bed and nothing else).

Noticeably absent: the recent ad campaign featuring Brad Pitt, the first man to be the perfume’s face. It’s as if anything too commercial would have weakened the “cultural” positioning.

“It was absolutely necessary to stop talking about perfume and No. 5 with the same marketing stories,” says Froment. “Instead, [I wanted to look at] at what happened with the stories in her books, in her life and all around her.”

And yet he is adamant that No. 5 – perfume, bottle design or both – is not a piece of art.

“It is a concept but it is not art,” he says.

Does Jacques Polge, the director of Chanel Parfums since 1978, feel differently?

“Mme. Chanel talked about being an artisan. And me, I would consider myself as an artisan, too,” he says. “Today, everyone thinks of themselves as artists!”

No. 5 Culture Chanel runs until June 5.

NATCHEZ — The Natchez Convention and Visitors Bureau’s total budget is approximately $1.3 million, of which the majority is spent on marketing, paying off the Natchez Convention Center debt, personnel and contracts.

The CVB’s budget is funded mainly by the city’s 3-percent lodging tax, 1.5-percent restaurant tax and the $2 hotel and bed-and-breakfast occupancy, or heads on beds, tax.

All of the $2 occupancy tax money — approximately $310,500 for this fiscal year — must be used only by the CVB for marketing purposes.

The CVB keeps 2 percent of the 3-percent lodging tax, and the remaining 1 percent goes toward paying of the convention center debt.

The CVB, however, does not keep the 3-percent tax for the Natchez Grand Hotel. Two percent goes toward paying the tax increment financing bond set up by the city and county in 2006 as an incentive for the hotel’s developers, and 1 percent goes toward the convention center debt.

The CVB gets 1 percent of the 1.5-percent food tax, and the remaining half-percent goes toward paying off the Natchez Convention Center’s debt.

The CVB has budgeted approximately $280,000 in tax money to come in this fiscal year to pay off the convention center debt, which totals approximately $10 million. The $12 million bond was issued in 1999 to build and furnish the convention center, as well as renovate the Natchez Community Center and City Auditorium.

All of the $2 tax money is allocated for marketing, per the legislation that created the tax. The CVB has a marketing advisory committee made up of tourism and related industry professionals that meet quarterly and decide how the spend the marketing dollars, Natchez Tourism Director Connie Taunton said.

Advertising and promotion

Taunton said she and Carol Ann Riley of Riley Creative, the CVB’s advertising agency of record, present recommendations for publications, websites and other ways to market the city at those meetings.

The committee, Taunton said, also contributes marketing ideas, and the final say comes from the Natchez Convention and Promotion Commission, or the CVB board.

The advertising and marketing efforts are typically outlined ahead of time in the CVB’s annual marketing plan, Taunton said.

Each department within the CVB, which would include the manager of tourist services, director of sales, marketing assistant and the CVB media/film liaison, makes notes throughout the year about what they would like to see happen with the next year’s marketing efforts.

“They all submit a rough draft of what they would like to do, and we present it to the marketing advisory committee and then make whatever adjustments are necessary (based on the committee’s feedback),” Taunton said.

The draft plan is then submitted to the CVB board, finalized then sent to the Natchez Board of Aldermen for approval, Taunton said.

The CVB’s target market, Taunton said, is a 250-mile radius. She said the CVB decides in which markets and publications to advertise based on research on where visitors come from and the reach of publications.

“We do research on the circulation of the publications and through feedback from other people who have advertised of what kind of return on investment they have had,” she said.

Taunton and Riley also attend a summit each year with the Mississippi Division of Tourism and meet with advertisers.

“We have one-on-one meetings with people in advertising,” Taunton said. “It’s eight-minute meetings with each advertiser in a day-long session.”

Throughout the year, other advertising opportunities usually arise, Taunton said, whether the state has purchased ad space and offers it to its city partners at a discounted rate or another publication is running a discount.

“Whenever we buy … we do some of the same research,” she said. “We call and talk to them and see if we can get some editorials as well as advertising, and what the overall return on investment will be.”

The publications the CVB consistently advertise with include “Southern Living,” “Reader’s Digest,” “AAA Southern Traveler” and travel websites, Taunton said.

The “Southern Living” 2×4 ad runs six times a year in the back of the magazine in the travel planner section and costs approximately $7,000. Despite the fact that it is in the back of the magazine, Taunton said the ad is worth it.

“A lot of loyal ‘Southern Living’ readers look at that travel section,” she said. “We would love to do a half-page or a full-page ad, but you’re talking about $100,000 almost.”

Approximately $7,500 each year is spent on gifts and souvenirs that are given to special guests at CVB meetings and events.

For example, Taunton said, the CVB partnered with Natchez Inc. to give legislators gifts at the annual Natchez Day at the Capitol.

“Last year I think we gave them umbrellas, and this year we gave them an accessory or shaving kit bag that matched the hang-up bag the state was giving them,” she said.

The items that are used for gifts are chosen, Taunton said, based on what other cities are doing.

“Those things we decide based on what some of the other cities are doing at the conferences we go to,” she said.

The gifts and souvenirs have the Natchez logo on them, Taunton said, and help get the city’s name out there.

“All of our competitors are out there doing the same thing,” she said. “We would look bad if we showed up to a show, and they all had stuff to hand out and give away, and we had nothing.”

Souvenir items that are purchased to give away and are not used are often resold in the visitor center logo shop, Taunton said.

Salaries and contracts

Approximately $370,000 is spent on salaries for nine full-time and six contract employees, as well as contracts for grass-cutting, landscaping and advertising services from Carol Ann Riley of Riley Creative.

Riley’s compensation averages $2,000-$3,000 each month, depending on the work she does for the CVB, Taunton said. When Riley places an ad for the CVB, Taunton said, she pays for the ad then rebills the CVB. If Riley designs an ad or does other creative work for CVB marketing and advertising, her fee is $50 an hour, Taunton said.

Approximately $27,600 is budgeted for retirement, $21,500 for employee insurance, $14,260 for FICA and $3,200 for Medicare.

Other expenses

The CVB pays the city approximately $60,000 each year to rent office space at the Natchez Visitor and Reception Center.

Approximately $30,000 is budgeted for repairs and maintenance at the visitor center and approximately $15,000 for grounds maintenance.

Approximately $55,000 is budgeted for electricity, $21,000 for telephone service, $10,000 for gas and $5,400 for water.

The National Park Service pays approximately 52 percent of operational costs for the visitor center, Taunton said, which includes utilities, property maintenance and a maintenance staff member. NPS share of the costs averages approximately $7,000-$10,000 a month.

The CVB spends approximately $45,000 for security services at the visitor center, which is reimbursed to the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

The CVB budgets approximately $40,000 for the purchase of logo shop goods, which are resold in the shop.

Other expenses include:

-$18,000 for professional fees, which include annual audit services, legal fees and similar expenses.

-$15,000 for rentals, which includes any equipment that has to be rented for events. For example, Taunton said, the CVB may have to rent chairs for an event or a pressure washer for outdoor cleaning at the visitor center.

-$12,000 for operating supplies, which include coffee, light bulbs and other similar items.

-$12,000 for additional advertising, which includes required legal ads, weekly newspaper ads and similar advertising.

 

 

 

 

 

ZBTV: AOS callout in Albany

Monday, 13 May 2013

By Dave Fidlin

Correspondent

Playground equipment at municipal-run parks within the Village of Waterford, such as Whitford and Ten Club parks, could be enhanced in the years ahead as part of a top-down review.

The Village Board’s Public Works Utilities Committee recently heard a presentation from John Hackbarth, an expert in planning and design. Hackbarth’s visit was in conjunction with a parks plan document that is being drafted at Village Hall.

During his brief presentation, Hackbarth discussed what the village might want to consider as new play structures are installed at parks throughout the community.

He recommended against most fencing around green spaces, except for baseball diamonds. The safety and durability of swing sets, slides and other types of equipment also entered into the discussion.

In terms of landscaping, Hackbarth said mulch material works well throughout parks because it assists with drainage.

“I believe in looking at everything from a long-term perspective,” Hackbarth said of his thought process when planning and designing green spaces.

Hackbarth attempted to bring committee members on board with his ideas, stating, “Parks are a great asset to the community.”

The committee was receptive to Hackbarth’s comments, but a cart-before-the-horse scenario entered the discussion during deliberations.

“I’m not sure we’re at the point to make any decisions,” said Trustee Stephen Denman, who serves on the committee.

“I think this is something we need to talk about a bit more.”

Director of Public Works Jeff Dolezal agreed, pointing out the parks plan remains a work in progress.

“I think we need to have that park plan solidified to help determine where we’re going to go,” Dolezal said.

The issue, and the possibility of using Hackbarth’s consulting services, is expected to be revisited at a future committee meeting.

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TALENT — Electric vehicle builder Brammo Inc. hopes to begin remodeling the former Walmart building within three to four months to allow the company to double its workforce over the next two years.

“The idea is to get in as quickly as we can and start using the space,” said President Craig Bramscher. “We are kind of bursting at the seams.”

Brammo purchased the 100,000-square-foot building earlier this year rather than build additional facilities in Ashland, where it is now headquartered.

Boora Architects of Portland is designing the remodel to include sustainable and environmentally friendly features it developed in similar projects undertaken for Google in Mt. View, Calif.

“We at least want to have a plan and do as much as we can over time,” said Bramscher. “We want to be as sustainable as possible and stay within budget.”

Those ideas range from using steel containers to create offices and conference rooms to installing photovoltaic solar panels and creating a landscaped green roof. There will also be skylights to bring in more natural light.

“We want to have the architecture be inspired by the path they (Brammo) are taking,” said architect Chris Linn.

Bramscher hopes work can start within 90 days, but says he may be overly optimistic. Construction still needs to go to bid and remodel permits still secured from the city of Talent.

“I always underestimate all that,” said Bramscher.

The firm’s headquarters, research and development, electric bike production facilities and battery labs will be housed in the Talent building, vacated when Walmart moved to the new supercenter in south Medford. Prototype development and the firm’s racing team also will be located in Talent.

Battery-making labs will require firewalls and lots of ventilation, said Bramscher.

Brammo estimates operations that are now housed in 30,000 square feet spread around Ashland will take up 55,000 of the new building initially.

Different firms are considering initial designs for the first phase of the project. Once finances are in place, Brammo will get bids for the work. An April 23 filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission showed the firm had raised another $4.5 million in equity funding.

A second remodel phase will include exterior building work and solar installations. Exterior windows will be installed and landscaping added.

“There will be a more graphic kind of display of what’s going on inside,” said Linn.

A potential third phase may include an additional structure on the 14- acre site.

“We’ve got a lot to work with,” said Bramscher. “We’ll use a lot of what’s there.”

Retail outlets on the site are another possibility for the third phase, said Linn. City Planner Mark Knox previously said that shops could be created along Valley View Road.

About 70 people work for the company. With the additional space, Bramscher estimates the workforce could double over 18 to 24 months.

Production of the Empulse motorcycle is currently limited by space in Ashland. All 2013 production has been pre-sold, said Bramscher. Most sales are to individuals, but he expects purchases by government agencies such as police departments to grow in 2014.

Tony Boom is a freelance writer living in Ashland. Reach him at tboomwriter@gmail.com.

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BELLEVILLE — A group of 1,600 volunteers will come to Belleville for one day in July to do service projects as part of their annual national youth church conference in St. Louis.

The city is asking Belleville residents for ideas — from building a community garden to painting a concession stand — for volunteers from the Christian Missionary Alliance Church.

The teenagers will be in St. Louis from July 9-13 for the LIFE 2013 youth conference. As part of the conference’s “Big Day of Serving” component, each attendee will do at least three hours of volunteer work in the St. Louis area.

Matthew Cesare said the idea is to do as much as possible on one day to impact a city and make a visual difference. Cesare was contracted by Group Cares, which organizes “Big Day of Serving” events nationwide, to help the Christian alliance plan the service work.

“When they said they wanted to make it an integral part of the conference, I thought of all the things we could do in the St. Louis metro area,” Cesare said.

The city of Belleville was chosen as the destination for volunteer work on one of the days, July 11.

So far, the city has worked with various community groups to compile a list of service projects for the volunteers. They hope to finalize projects by the end of May.

But the ideas so far — mostly beautification work — only utilize about 400 of the available volunteers, said Peggy Hartmann, an assistant in the city’s human resources department.

Hartmann said city officials can easily come up with projects for the volunteers, but they want input from residents on what needs to be done in neighborhoods throughout the city.

One such example is an idea generated from the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood Watch through the Belleville Neighborhood Partnership program.

Donna Mauno, a Belleville Neighborhood Partnership leader for the zone that encompasses the Pleasant Hill area, said residents wanted to do a project that was geared toward helping the nearby senior center.

So on July 11, the Pleasant Hill group has asked for 50 of the youth church volunteers to help them install a walking trail around the perimeter of Gass Park, 110 N. 10th St.

The group will also build a community garden in the middle of the park, Mauno said.

The Rev. Rob Dyer, of the First United Presbyterian Church in Belleville, said it is a gratifying thing to help make connections within the community, such as bringing volunteers to assist the Pleasant Hill group.

“When 1,600 people descend on your town, that tends to leave a footprint,” Dyer said.

Dyer’s church was volunteering for another “Big Day of Serving” event in North St. Louis in April when Dyer heard that Cesare was looking for another city as a destination for the July conference.

“He said he was still looking for a project for the third day and I said, ‘Come to Belleville!'” Dyer said.

Residents in Belleville already have a “volunteer mentality,” Dyer said, so events like the “Big Day of Serving” act as rally points for the community.

“The potential is there and the people are there,” Dyer said. “What we have to do is just to tap into it, organize it, harness it.”

Amanda Guinn, a member of Dyer’s church and the program director for Belleville AmeriCorps, has been working with city officials to organize project ideas.

Guinn agrees that the city already has a collaborative spirit, and that draws volunteers from other cities to Belleville.

In August 2012, for instance, The Mission Continues and 400 volunteers worked for a day to remodel South Side Park. And, after this July, Guinn hopes Belleville residents gear up for the city’s bicentennial in 2014.

“The city wants to do 200 service projects during the 200th anniversary year,” Guinn said. “We see (the July event) as a kickoff project to inspire people into service.”

Guinn encourages residents to be creative when thinking of projects, but some parameters are that the teens should be able to complete the task in about three hours. And, safety is a concern, so the teens are not allowed to use power tools or climb labbers, for example.

The teens will be traveling in buses that carry about 45 passengers each, so the projects should be designed to utilize at least that many people.

Other ideas on the books include:

* One group of 50 teens will be cleaning up trash from the lake and other areas of Bellevue Park.

* About 150 volunteers will be at Bicentennial Park clearing a 1.6-mile cross-country trail and doing landscaping for the entranceway.

*A bus of volunteers also could be dropped off and then break into smaller groups to do different projects in the vicinity.

Contact reporter Jacqueline Lee at jlee@bnd.com or 239-2655. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/BNDBelleville.

Council has decided to reinstate the downtown furniture budget that it had put on hold last year. The $108,000 line item includes benches, but also bike racks, recycling bins, bear-proof garbage containers, and the eclectic but contentious ore cart.

Council’s decision, however, stipulates that city staff will return to council for final authorization prior to making any furniture purchases. Coun. Kathy Wallace had previously raised the idea of hiring local artisans to build some of the items, for example the benches, instead of buying pre-fabricated items from a catalogue.

Please note: We recently reported that overall costs for the Columbia-Washington project were at about $6 million, about $1.4 million more than expected. Although former CAO Victor Kumar reported $4.6 million as the expected total cost, it seems he reported the construction costs as the total cost, without including design and supervision fees. It is very difficult to say what the costs actually were since the city has not provided the public with any information on how the money was spent. Unconfirmed information suggests that the construction costs were close to budget, perhaps with certain items deleted to balance overruns on other items. The design and engineering costs went higher than expected due to various issues that arose during construction, but the final fee included complete construction drawings that are shelf-ready for “phase 2,” Washington St. to Kirkup Ave.

At first council debated a motion to refer the decision on street furniture to a future meeting so artisanal alternatives could be considered.

Coun. Jill Spearn reacted, saying, “I appreciate the idea of local flavour downtown, but I wonder about the timeline on a project like that. I’m worried about garbage cans, bears, what the downtown core will look like, and how long local artisans will take to create what they [would] create.”

Mayor Greg Granstrom argued, “We’ve had design charrettes forever, this design was approved by the community, the furniture that’s bought is CSA approved so liability is covered. The entire community was involved [ad] infinitum.”

Coun. Kathy Moore commented, “Kind of like parallel parking.”

Coun. Jody Blomme asked about the new granite and wood benches that were recently erected on some corners, to which city staff replied that those benches had been part of the landscaping budget and so had not been removed from the plan, whereas the rest of the furniture was part of the “streetscaping” budget, which had been put on hold.

Coun. Cary Fisher was ambivalent: “I’d be in support of leaving it as is, but I don’t disagree with the idea of local artisans. We’re talking about a limited number of furnitures,” he said.

Speaking to a motion for council to have more discussion before approving the furniture, Wallace said, “I don’t think we need to get into the detail of the benches at this meeting, but I do think it’s an idea council should consider.”

Granstrom said, “We’ve been down this road so long, we’re spinning our wheels. I don’t want more discussion.”

Fisher, Thatcher, Spearn, and Granstrom defeated the motion, so council debated a new motion that the $108,000 stay in the FP for street furniture.

Blomme said, “I don’t feel comfortable with that, there’s a lot in other ideas that we haven’t discussed. There was a motion of council to take it out.”

“It was referred to budget,” Granstrom said, ” and that’s where we’re at right now.”

“We’re making this decision without a lot of clear information in front of us,” Blomme continued. “What about the idea of exploring doing this locally, keeping it local?”

“We’re making this decision based on design charrettes,” Granstrom said. “Councils, not necessarily this one, have had tremendous input into the design.”

Wallace said, “If we’re proceeding with this [motion], I’m totally against it. It’s $110,000 leaving the local economy. I also disagree that plan we last saw came out of charrettes. It actually came out of the landscape architect from ISL, that’s who chose the bike racks, the benches, and that really ugly ore cart that I think is still in the plan.”

Moore said, “I’d also vote against it. Some of the elements are fine, but I think we have an extremely unique town, and I don’t think it would be that hard to take a few moments, rather than rush through, to leave it in the budget and set aside a little working group. It wouldn’t be that big a deal and wouldn’t cost a lot of money to do that.”

Council agreed to an amendment to the motion that the streetscape items be brought back to council for final approval.

Spearn said, “We do have a streetscape committee, which I am on.” She added her concern that any work with local artisans “needs to be tasteful and not one iota tacky,” and said, “I’m not going to make this amendment if you’re thinking chunky wood things downtown.”

City Planner Mike Maturo clarified in response to a question by Fisher that the furniture choices were vetted through two streetscape committees and council “on several occasions.” He said, “We did run a public process for what was selected for downtown furniture.”

Blomme said, “When I saw what was being proposed, I thought, ‘Oh my God, our downtown is going to look like the patio of an AW,’ with all this money going to prefab stuff that isn’t that interesting.”

She said the money amounted to “two full time, full year salaries that could stay in this community,” and suggested, “I’ve talked to several people who could make whatever you want. It needn’t be more expensive, it could be a better product and keep the money in the local area.”

Looking back on the process, Moore said she had to admit to a “failure of imagination” at the time she okayed the existing furniture plan. “It never occurred to me until Wallace’s suggestion [to use local artisans for some pieces.] I also don’t think there’s any risk of junk showing up: we just put out an RFP [request for proposals] and you do it like anything else, you either like them or you don’t like them.”

Moore concluded, “I like the idea of coming back and having a few pieces reflect the community.”

The Friends of Evanston Farmers Markets will be conducting demonstrations of growing herbs and cooking with them at the downtown farmers market this Saturday, May 11, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

The market itself is open from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot behind the Hilton Garden Inn at University Place and Oak Avenue. Free parking is available in the adjacent city parking garage.

At the Friends tent, Betz Vancrey and Amy Dale of Green Edens Landscaping will offer ideas for incorporating herbs into your landscape.

Vancrey is the author of Chef’s Tips on Culinary Herbs and Edible Flowers, which will be available as well. She will offer ideas for cooking with herbs.

 

Dates

Location

Northfield’s Park and Recreation Advisory Board switched to the backup plan for a permanent skateboard park, Old Memorial Park, at a special meeting Thursday.

Soil borings showed that the Northfield City Council’s first choice, Riverside Park, is impractical with at least $350,000 of excavation and other work that would have been required to make the silty ground suitable to build on, said Brian Erickson, assistant public works director and assistant city engineer.

He said that the park board passed the resolution as primarily informational, showing that the change was in line with the council’s wishes to build it at one of the two sites in 2013.

The park board is considering an 8,000 square-foot park at the southeast corner near the current pool office, he said.

City staff, members of the Northfield Skateboard Coalition and the group’s preferred designer, Spohn Ranch, will now start drafting plans to construct the project near the city pool.

“It has been kind of a controversial project, probably for no good reason other than that nobody wanted it in their backyard,” said David Hvistendahl, a PRAB member.

He said that some people may also be concerned about the young people that a skateboard park would draw, but that it makes sense to build it an area that already has activity, along with first aid, staff and a concession stand at the pool.

“Both of them are about outdoor physical activities,” Hvistendahl said. “As a city and as a park board, we need to encourage that.”

He said that the board will gather more information to make sure that Old Memorial is actually the best option. The most recent soil test at that site was conducted in 2005.

Charlie Hussman, who has been part of the group of skateboarding enthusiasts before it was called the Northfield Skateboard Coalition, is working closely on the design.

“People from different groups were saying they want more interaction and input on design,” he said. “That’s absolutely welcome.”

The design should utilize the natural landscape, he said. Hussman’s ideas are to include elements of famous skating sites from around the world and a place to display art.

“It’s not going to be a skate park that you saw in a late 80s punk rock music video with graffiti and quarter pipes,” he said. “It’s going to be architecture and sculpture.”

As one of the first to be involved with the process, Hussman has seen changes in the coalition’s members and what drives them to continue. And what has driven some skateboarders to give up.

“A lot of those kids are the younger brothers or siblings of people that went to those meetings and the discouragement level, after they went off to college and didn’t see anything from it, was so high,” he said.”That’s so wrong of a city to have caused that. It’s just because of the lack of understanding and preconceived ideas of what something is and not being curious about learning from children.”

The site for the skateboard park has been debated and rehashed dozens of times since 2006. The following is a timeline with some highlights from the process so far, as detailed in city documents:

Late June 2006: First interest meeting about skateboard park is held at the Key (Northfield Union of Youth).

Summer 2006: Skateboard Coalition is formed. The group starts meeting every Wednesday at the Key.

July 2006: Coalition members brainstorm what they want in a park. Charlie Hussman turns the ideas into a first concept design.

October 2006: Members speak at an open mic at the Park and Recreation Advisory Board meeting about the need for a skate plaza.

December 2006: Coalition presents a 45-page proposal, including a list of what they hope the new park can have, as well as letters of support from community groups.

May 7, 2007: Council directs park board to work with the Coalition to develop a site selection process, design and cost for a future skate park and to include it within the Park System Master Plan. Potential sites: Ames Park, Babcock Park and Old Memorial Field Park.

January-October 2007: Coalition members volunteer at numerous city events, design donation jars and distribute them to 15 businesses, attend a grant workshop and collect signatures from local youth, along with several other fundraising efforts.

November 2007-March 2008: Members meet with an architect, discussed final features for the plaza, receive a matching grant of up to $10,000 from the Northfield Healthy Community Initiative, are featured in a national video profiling outstanding youth development efforts in Northfield, receive a Red Wagon Award from state representatives, continue fundraising.

Jan. 17, 2008: PRAB has open house and rules out Babcock Park. Letters, petitions and comments are received from residents near Old Memorial Park, stating opposition to the park at that location.

March 17, 2008: Council approves Ames Park as the location. The estimated design size of the plaza is 12,000 square feet, concrete with urban streetscape items, costing between $180,000 and $240,000. Coalition is raising money and $30,000 of city funds is set aside.

March 2008: A petition with more than 150 names is documented. Signers say they are against putting a skate park at Old Memorial Field, as it was not included in the approved park master plan that aimed to leave green space, a walking path, landscaping for noise control and aesthetics and seating along the path.

April 7, 2009: The council is told that it would cost between $628,460 to $803,829 to complete the Ames Park Master Plan that would include building the plaza, making modifications for safety on the Fifth Street Bridge and planting vegetation.

June 1, 2009: The majority of the council does not support the park board’s recommendation of Ames Park for the skate plaza location.

July-August 2009: Skateboard Coalition recruits volunteers to help build temporary location at Babcock Park.

Sept. 21, 2009: Council resolution removes Riverside Park, Sechlar Park, Sibley Park, Washington Park and Way Park from further consideration. Remaining sites still under consideration: Babcock Park, Memorial Field, multiple sites mini-area, school district areas and Spring Creek Park.

May 1, 2012: Council adopts motion to establish a temporary skateboard facility in Riverside Park until Oct. 15, 2012.

May 20, 2012: The council nixes Ames Park as a potential spot for a new skatepark.