BUCKHANNON – The Consolidated Public Works Board discussed several beautification possibilities for downtown Buckhannon – namely, the Chase lots on Madison Street and an area in front of Wilson Martino Dental involving potentially removing a fence.

Mayor Robbie Skinner kicked off the discussion at the Thursday, Jan. 28 Consolidated Public Works meeting by explaining there were flower fences in several areas across town, including next to Dairy Queen and one that used to be near the Fortify Wealth Management/Ameriprise Financial Services building.

“We are talking about the fence in front of the dentist’s office and beautifying that area around the building and creating a green space that would include a bench or two, perhaps a tree or two, obviously flowers along the street, as we’ve done over by Ameriprise,” Skinner said. “The fence has seen better days, and when the flowers are in full bloom and they grow really tall, and there is a space in between the fence and the building where people can hang out, and it’s not always the most positive of an environment, for what’s going on there, to put it nicely.”

Skinner said he has spoken with the manager at Wilson Martino and wants to reach out to the owner with a proposal before changing anything.

“I don’t want to surprise anybody. We have to have something [such as] a graphic to look at, to give them to consider more than just, ‘hey we’ve got this idea, we want you to buy in,’ – we want show them what we’re willing to do for the area,” the mayor said.

The topic of beautification then turned to the former Chase Bank drive-thru lot on Madison Street, an area the city purchased from Citizens Bank last year. In March of 2020, the city entered into a purchase agreement with Citizens Bank wherein the city paid $200,000 for the approximately one-acre lot where the old Chase Bank drive-thru is located. The purchase was part of a larger transaction that involved the city purchasing the Madison Street lot for $200,000 in exchange for Citizens Bank donating $100,000 to the Stockert Youth & Community Center’s capital campaign.

Board member CJ Rylands said a meeting was called to start brainstorming ideas for the two Chase lots on Madison Street.

“We have to get started because we want to continue to develop Jawbone, and hopefully it will become a regionally attractive event center,” Rylands said. “The reason for the meeting prior to having public input and whatnot, is to identify the broad intentions of what we’re trying to accomplish there, and out of the first meeting we decided we want to expand Jawbone.”

He said some people at the meeting wanted to keep the [old drive-thru] building, while others thought the building would get in the way. One aspect of the property city officials should consider, Rylands said, is that it’s located in close proximity to a residential area on and near Lincoln Street.

“Mr. VanNostrand (city architect Bryson VanNostrand) does not have or is not willing to spend the time designing something until he can further grasp what we’re trying to accomplish with the property,” Rylands said. “One of the conversations evolved around the area connecting to Lincoln Street because that’s a residential area and maybe we give that back in the form of a green space, not connecting as a drive-thru [or parking lot] where, if you’re driving through a parking lot, you’re driving a lot faster than if you’re in a parking lot to park or you’re leaving, and that that may impact the residential community.”

Rylands said parking is needed, but green space could also be useful.

“Parking is needed, but there’s no mandate that we create another 100 spots,” he said. “[In a city], you want some parking, but we also want green space, but green space that can be utilized with turf stabilizing, so you’re not driving on a road or a parking lot, but you can have vendors or something on it where it doesn’t turn to mush.

Rylands said they will have another meeting with the same participants and try to iron out the details, present a few renderings and then have a conversation with the broader community.