Sketches by Jean Payne (click on image to enlarge)I was thrilled to read your blog about the YS Historical Museum. Several ideas presented to the Yellow Springs Historical Society Wednesday included not only a museum, but the whole Barr property as a village park. Community events could take place under those beautiful trees. A large slightly elevated patio surrounding the front of the museum could provide a band, orchestra, or performance stage for summer concerts and plays. Blankets and folding chairs would provide seating. Shakespeare under the stars can once again return back to Yellow Springs just as it did when I was a kid.
Attached are two designs I showed the YS Historical Society. I also thought the museum should have room to expand. Besides the YSHS artifacts now in storage, I hope for galleries such as History of the Arts in Yellow Springs (with examples of artists such as Read Viemeister, Axel Bahnson, Suzanne Clauser, Virgina Hamilton, Jon Hudson, Seth Velsey, Robert Whitmore, John Lithgow, Dave Chappell, murals around town), the Baldwin Collection (can’t forget the Native American link to this area), and major businesses in town (Antioch Bookplate, Vernay, YSI and Morris Bean).
Our big problem is the need to convince The Friends Care Center to do a land switch. I’m afraid at this point in time they have no interest in saving the Barr house or switching to the Beatty Park . The village has always been supportive the FCC. Is the FCC willing to lose that support? Can they agree and save face, still justify the money they have already dropped into their project? Are they truly comfortable in destroying an historical house in an historical district? I don’t know anyone on the FCC Board so I don’t know the answers.
Editor's note: Thanks, Jean. I strongly urge readers of this post to comment on it. This makes too much sense to just let it scroll off the screen without public input. Tomorrow, I will set up a poll in the sidebar on the most basic part of this issue: Should the village and Friend's Care swap Beatty-Hughes park for the Barr property with a view towards building the FCC apartments on the old park land on Corry Street and making a park out of the Barr Property?
Related post: Historical Society looking for new space
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5 comments:
My one concern over this swap has been parking...sorry, folks, but practicality always has to rear its head. Is there room in Beatty Park for parking for the Senior Project, too? We cannot afford to lose the Kieth's Alley parking lot to those folks; it is already OVERused by the local workers and towndwellers. I think the swap is a FANTASTIC idea AS LONG AS that lot is not included in any of it. Those of you who do not need to use the lot may not realize how much it's needed, but if you had any trouble parking last week when the other city lot was being paved, you got a little taste. And don't say, "oh, we can work something out" IT'S THAT IMPORTANT! One of those folks who work downtown and use it nearly everyday; with fibromyalgia, I could walk to work, but I couldn't walk home afterwards.
Those proposing this swap need to remember that Friends' has already made a large investment in design and planning for the Barr site, and would have to start over again for a new site. Any plan to "swap" should include a plan to reimburse Friends' for the added expense.
@Anonymous: The park is about the same size as the Barr property. It should be able to accommodate just as much parking.
The village manager has already stated that the "swap" will not be possible because of restrictions on the park property due to the fact that it was purchased with federal grant money for "open space". I haven't heard an opposing opinion yet.
Ahh...but if the Barr property has a restriction put on it that the "open space" is left as it is, perhaps the swap could happen. It is a lovely park area; I think prettier than Beatty-Hughes and couldn't the name go, too, to the grounds?
This Beatty Hughes Park swap idea has taken on a life of its own, but the Village Manager and the village's lawyer have already said that there is a deed restriction on the Beatty Hughes Park prohibiting it from being used as anything but a park (as I understand what he said). He said it could be challenged with what sounds like years of legal wrangling.
I have friends waiting for senior housing here and would like FCC to get on with it.
Why would Friends Care Center be reimbursed for their expenses? If they had a good business plan in the first place, the banks would have given them financing and apartments would be occupied by now. Was it the village's fault? The village council bent over backwards to give FCC all the support and approval they could. This is giving FCC a second chance, in a much more popular location. Bailing them out for their mistakes shouldn't be part of the package.
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