Certificate Approved.

The Planning, Zoning, and Historic Preservation Commission, during a special meeting Monday afternoon, narrowly approved a certificate of appropriateness for a new home to be located at 1209 Grand. The certificate is required by ordinance because the property is located within a designated historic zone.

The motion to approve, after lengthy discussion, was made by Commission member Clyde Phillips. He said he felt the home would be a welcomed addition to the neighborhood. Commission Chair Harold Short agreed. Member Robert Stubbs voted no, and Carolyn Wyatt abstained. Member Adam Hoover, had to leave the meeting before the vote due to other commitments. The City Council recently lowered the requirement for a quorum of the seven member Commission from five to four.

The Commission had requested a more detailed rendering of the structure during a previous meeting two weeks ago. They also recommended an alley entrance for the two car attached garage to soften the appearance from the street.

Several neighborhood residents were in attendance Monday as well as the contractor Mike Hailey and attorney Chuck Pauley representing the construction firm.

Hailey told the Commission that relocating the driveway in the rear of the home was cost prohibitive.

Pauley argued that the house was not inconsistent with the neighborhood.

"The neighborhood is a mixed neighborhood," Pauley told the Commission. "You’ve got a pump store across the street and you’ve got an old grocery store, which is now Nearly New (clothing store), physically right next door. Talk about compatibility with the neighborhood, which is what the ordinance talks about....."

Commission member Stubbs disagreed.

"I don’t think it was the idea to be compatible with the least common denominator, I think the idea is to encourage development that would be compatible with the historic nature, with a house of historic appearance at least, rather than finding the least common denominator using that as the standard. I don’t think that’s what the code has in mind."

"That’s not what your code says," replied Pauley. "The ordinance says compatible. It doesn’t say historically accurate. It talks about this particular neighborhood, and this is not inconsistent with the neighborhood."

Council member Jackie Boyer lives near the site and spoke to the Commission.

"It is just an extremely ordinary home," said Boyer. "I have no problem with that. My problem is that we have a lot of extremely ordinary homes that were built in the forties and fifties in the area, that were built structurally, I would imagine because of the cost factors when they went up. They lend nothing to the ambiance of the neighborhood. I don’t think that this ordinance is meant to be punitive, monetarily against anyone. But the main thing is we don’t want it to be punitive against the current home owners of older historic homes either by having structures that have no character, and this clearly has no character. It’s a nice little house. It has no character and adds nothing to the neighborhood and I think it detracts from the neighborhood."

Council member Lujene Clark also opposed the certificate of appropriateness.

"Technically I live too far away to object, meaningfully," said Clark, "except that I do sit on the Council and if it comes before me I will vote against it, if it is presented as is. We’ve worked too hard to start building the tourism and the ambiance of Grand to back off now."

Pauley told the Commission that the owner would be willing to add two dormers to the front of the house and add shutters to the rear windows of the house. Other cosmetic adjustments were agreed to at the former meeting.

According to Commission Chair Short the approval of the certificate does not have to go before the City Council.

It was good ta hear the pitter patter of rain drops on Monday night. I’ve got to admit I was a little disappointed when I looked out the window next mornin’ and all the grass wasn’t plush and green. Maybe in a day or two it’ll get some color back.

I don’t know ‘xactly how much rain we got, but I awoke several times from the solid downpour. I suppose it’s just been so long since it’s rained I couldn’t just sleep through. ‘Course the thunder brought me up a couple a times.

As much as I know we needed the rain, I did start hopin’ for a little relief from the noise after a while. At some point in time my own immediate comfort became more important to me than the overall benefit of the rain. With a good night’s sleep, I’ll get over it.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Carthage Printing Services

PRIME TIME WITH KIDS

by Donna Erickson

When the "big" kids are off to school, whip up a batch of this pure white baking soda play clay for your preschoolers.

While you prepare the recipe, ponder the wonders of nature with your child, and talk about how you might make your own versions in clay. Start by observing and discussing characteristics and shapes of the fruits and vegetables right in your kitchen. A banana’s a curve; a bunch of grapes is a lot of little balls and some wild spirals. A tomato is a squashed ball with a few creases on top!

Once the play clay is prepared, set to work shaping and playing with it and see where your children’s imaginations take them. The variations of things they can mold and shape are endless.

To make the clay: In a pot, have your child stir together 1 cup of cornstarch, 2 cups of baking soda, and 1 1/4 cups of water. Once the ingredients are all combined, an adult should set the pot over low heat and continue stirring until the texture begins to resemble mashed potatoes.

Remove pot from stove and put play clay in a large bowl until cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, set out a variety of kid-safe kitchen gadgets for playing, such as cups, spoons, muffin tins, ice-cube trays and cookie cutters. Kids can pack the clay, mold it, or knead it and cut out shapes. Finished works of art will dry after a day or two.