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City works on first community center - 11:07 AM - November , 2009
With a $1.8 million makeover now under way, the buzz of saws and roar of other machinery radiate from Pelahatchie's downtown.
The town is remodeling its Town Hall and renovating an old hardware store into the town's first community center. Additionally, the town is redoing its sidewalks along U.S. 80, making them more pedestrian-friendly and brushing them up with some landscaping.
"We're very pleased with the construction so far," Pelahatchie Mayor Knox Ross said. "They had to work through many weather-related issues."
Ross said the rain has setback the project somewhat, but he's happy with the results so far.
Frames have been set up to pour the new sidewalks, and a slab is being poured in the community center, the former Bryant's Hardware Store building.
Work on Town Hall is expected to be finished by the end of 2009, and the sidewalk improvement projects and the community center are set to be completed in June.
"The whole point of this is an overall strategy to enhance the walkability and attractiveness of the town," the mayor said. "We believe that we must give people a reason to live here and this serves to enhance our attractiveness.
"We are also trying to preserve the core of our town and modify our zoning to encourage infill development in and around the core. This enhancement process makes it more attractive to develop in the core and discourages future sprawl."
The community center, located at Brooks and Second streets, will be home to a stage complete with audio equipment. The town formerly used the old volunteer fire department, now part of the renovated library, for meeting space. Mayor Knox Ross said the new space will be larger.
Historical elements already in the buildings will be kept to maintain history. Tin recovered from Bryant's is making its way into the lobby of the future community center. The town's old jail, found in Town Hall, still will keep its cell-like look.
Town Clerk Bettye Massey said the old jail cell is where the elevator is located.
"That's going to be neat and I'm sure it's going to be an attraction," Massey said.
Also in the town hall, the old chandelier and board room seating is being restored.
"This is a historical building, and everything has to be approved by (Department of) Archives and History," Massey said.
While the renovations are going on in Town Hall, Massey and other staff members are working among the construction.
"It's quite challenging," Massey said. "We've managed to survive the jackhammer."
U.S. 80, called Second Street in town, is tapped for heavy "streetscape" improvements that include new sidewalks, crosswalks and landscaping - all measures to beautify the town and make it more pedestrian friendly.
More trees will be planted downtown, and crosswalks will be scored concrete. At Second and Brooks streets, the four-way stop, the street will have a design incorporating the town's logo.
These projects are not the first the town has completed in recent years. In 2008, the library was moved to a larger, renovated building, and a house was fixed up and made into a Town Museum.
Earlier this year, the town got its wireless Internet up and running. Ten transmitters beam the broadband in different sections of town, including downtown and the schools' campuses.
Also on the agenda are "streetscape" improvements to Goforth Street, a downtown street that runs from U.S. 80 and borders Muscadine Park.
"We'll hopefully look at some plans and get that project moving soon," Ross said.
(From article in Rankin Ledger by Justin Fritscher)
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