Sometimes the process works!

In 2000 the voters of Jackson County, Oregon approved a $38.9 million dollar bond to fund the construction and renovation of its 14 branch libraries, a process that resulted in the construction of an entirely new library in Medford.  When the library moved out of its 1911 Carnegie Library, located in Library Park, the building reverted to the City who didn’t know what to do with it.  After a certain amount of hand-wringing that included serious consideration of selling the building for private development, a new Mayor, Gary Wheeler, took office and took the bull by the horns.  Mayor Wheeler established a library committee of concerned citizens and chaired it himself.  The NTHP, the Kinsman Foundation, and Medford’s Urban Renewal District all provided funding to help and a new plan was hatched: to transform the building into a multi-use community center while respecting and honoring its history.

About a year ago, after some work on the library had occurred when it was used as a temporary home for City offices during a city hall remodel, Medford received significant Federal stimulus funding to improve energy efficiency at the Carnegie, a process that resulted in all new HVAC and, as I have written before, all new windows.  While there were parts of that program that could have been handled differently, the funding source triggered Section 106 and required the City to not only replace the windows as consistently with their original character as possible but to mitigate the Adverse Effect caused by their removal. Working with Oregon SHPO to develop appropriate mitigation, the City elected to restore the front entry, replacing the bad aluminum doors with custom Fir doors modeled after the historic design, restoring the twin cast iron lampposts, and cleaning the brick, all to provide the public with a hint of what a restored Carnegie would look like.

And then, as so often happens once preservation effort starts, the City got inspired.  They found some funding to clean up the interior, including new commercial carpeting, new paint, repaired lighting, and other work that makes the Carnegie presentable and more importantly useable for meetings, weddings, community events and other functions.  Rental fees will help build toward a full restoration of the building as the Carnegie Library Committee planned but more importantly, even if not complete, the City’s vision returns the Carnegie to activity and utility in Medford after eight long vacant years.

Last night Mayor Wheeler and the members of the Carnegie Committee, along with the City’s Parks staff, Council, the local AIA (which donated time to help plan the project), former Mayors, and other dignitaries and supporters all joined together for a grand celebration to re-open the Carnegie.  A banner was hung, cookies and punch were served, photos and newspapers articles about the Carnegie’s history lined the newly painted walls, the author of the City's newly published Images of America history book signed copies and we all sat in the Carnegie Library and enjoyed the premiere of a video made to honor Medford’s 125^th Birthday as an incorporated city.  Well Done!

No More "Parking," Please!

Years ago, as a student at the UO, I wrote a paper on the growth of a local auto dealer and their process of demolishing dozens of buildings for new car lots in downtown Medford.  In my always tongue and cheek style, that paper was titled “There’s Plenty of Parking in Downtown.”  In the years since the Medford Urban Renewal Agency, at the behest of local merchants, have taken up that mantra and built two parking structures and several surface lots that collectively occupy four or five full city blocks.  That doing so reduces the tax base (which pays the increment in the renewal district) is fodder for some other post.

Yet still, there are those in downtown Medford who are convinced that it is lack of parking, and lack of parking alone, that causes stress for local merchants and business.  I think that is backward.  Having a parking “problem” is not demonstrated by a prospective customer having to drive a block or two out of their way to find an available space.  A parking problem is evidenced by having too much parking, and too little need.  Extrapolated out to the absurd, lots of available parking (be it asphalt or of the other variety) almost by definition means there is no commercial draw, no reason to go to the area and park your car, because there isn’t anything there you want to experience. THAT is parking problem.

Here are four views taken a 5:00 last evening, Saturday, on 6^th street, right in front of the proposed restoration of the Holly Theatre.  One of the TWO parked cars is mine.   I’m not seeing a big issue.(If you click on the photos to enlarge them I don't think you'll see any issue either)

On the other side of public investment, Medford has a plethora of parks, Alba Park, Vogel Park and just across Bear Creek, Hawthorne Park.  On Friday Lithia Motors broke ground on the Commons project, which will include two full blocks of public park (even more land taken off the tax rolls, but again that is another post).  I have long felt that while the Lithia HQ will be a fine addition to downtown, the inclusion of two more parks is a mistake.  At least, as I understand it, the City and Lithia have stepped back from building yet another parking structure as a part of the Commons.Thank goodness.

 

Downtown Medford is blessed with a surprising number of fine restaurants-Porters, Elements, Four Daughters, Habaneros and many more.  It has a viable performing arts center, the Craterian, and now there is the opportunity for the restored Holly and now a small community theatre to be located in a long-vacant warehouse.  The Carnegie Library is to be restored for public meetings and gatherings and, at the other end of Main Street, there's talk of relocating a historic home to Hawthorne Park for use as a another community center/museum/gallery  Those sorts of uses, offering a huge increase in night-time activity in downtown, not only support local restaurants and merchants, but may actually create enough demand that new visitors will take advantage of all of the parking the city already has. 

Sparta Building Update

The two Ionic columns found buried beneath stucco and brick at the Sparta Building, reported upon in an earlier post, turned out to have more damage to them than we'd hoped.  The capitals were largely chiseled away, to create a flat profile (we knew that), but there was considerable damage to the plinths (the bases) and the characteristic fluting as well, where earlier renovations had attempted to use the columns to support door frames and structure.

We'll repair, actually replace, the capitals with metal elements from W.F. Norman, the "restorer's friend" (I use W. F. Norman a lot!).  For the plinths and the fluting we are lucky to have found a skilled craftsman who is manually recreating the elements, using layers and layers of high-density cement before coating the entire surface with white cement, to create the proper finish.  One aspect, the forms that he's created to match the fluting perfectly, is a great example of in-the-field innovation.  Turns out that 2" PVC pipe, split in half, and banded together around the surviving flutes,  creates a perfect mold.  Way to go, Frank!

Good Intentions

Occasionally I am asked to review a planning application for this or that municipal client, typically when there is something non-standard about the proposal or they are not certain about how to react.  Sometimes I think I just am being asked to play the heavy, to provide language that is more polite than “What the %*^%$ are they thinking?” and perhaps provide some re-direction.  It is always an interesting experience.

I think that preservationists sometimes need to work a little harder to remember that no one sits down at the drawing board with the idea of “How do I really ruin this historic property” in the forefront of their mind.  Those property owners that are reaching for their wallet are, no matter how misguided, still following a laudable impulse - to invest in their building with the intent of improving it, making it more attractive, secure, functional, or whatever.  That’s a good thing and one that should be nurtured, not squashed.

Admittedly there are times when that impulse is so misdirected it is hard not to castigate anyone who proposes it.  Those are often the applications sent my way.  And often what the applicant is attempting (improved access, greater sense of entry) is a really good idea...it is just the proposed execution that fails.  Turning that around, educating them without making them feel stupid, isn’t always easy, but I try hard to see these situations as opportunities.  It isn’t really that difficult to do the right thing by a historic building, if you know what the right thing is and know that there are other sources of supply beside Home Depot and Lowes.

Medford-One Step Forward and.....

I have written before about the great things that are happening in downtown Medford, what with the restoration of the Sparta Building, the on-going Facade projects, and the planned rehab of two long vacant buildings by Jefferson Public Radio.

I have also written about the city’s unfortunate penchant for “Silver Bullet-itis,” as most recently exemplified by a $14 million public investment in “The Commons,” a multi-block stock urban renewal project built around a new 4-story HQ building for Lithia Motors.  That project, which is finally scheduled to start construction later this spring after a two-year delay, has been much in the news lately.  And, as is my wont, and occasional failing, I have not been shy about voicing my opinions about its potential for improving downtown Medford.

The Commons includes the demolition of eight buildings to clear the land, two of which are clearly historic (and one of which, the Littrell Auto Parts Building that was recognized for its renovation just a few years ago by the Medford LHPC).  Lithia, toward whom I hold no ill will, should stay downtown and I don’t blame them for consolidating their offices into one structure.  I might quibble with the design (which is fairly aluminum and car-dealery for downtown IMHO), but it is just a building.  The problem, of course, is that Medford (and Lithia) can’t help but see this mega-project as the mega-answer to an entire host of downtown issues (hence the loss of eight buildings).  Two new blocks of hardscape park will either be virtual wastelands (my guess), or will be so attractive that they suck the slowly renewing life out of the rest of downtown (apparently the City and Lithia’s expectation). 

Downtowns, as the perceptive Jane Jacobs told us, are rarely improved by tearing them down and, having done so, it is very difficult to create a great place out of whole cloth.  Those obvious, and fairly accepted, rules appear to have little effect on a certain segment of downtown Medford, Oregon. 

Many years ago I was a part of a design team in downtown Medford that was pulled together right after the city’s Urban Renewal Agency had invested $7 million in southern Oregon’s first “Parking Structure.”  Don Rypkema, who was also a part of that team, pointed out (wisely) that instead of building a parking structure (which is STILL largely underused), Medford could have instead purchased EVERY single vacant building in downtown and given it to somebody who agreed to open a business there.  15 years later Medford has yet another parking structure ($8 million, I think), and about half a dozen new surface parking lots, many largely vacant, particularly after the community college closes down for the night.  Oh, and lots of vacant buildings.  Are we learning yet?  Apparently not.

National Register Documentation

For the first time in several years I am working a group of National Register nominations, the formal documentation that we use to “List” a property as historically significant as opposed to the more internal “Determinations of Eligibility” that generally suffice for what is termed compliance work.  DOEs, which are quicker to write and review, are what agencies and regulated entities prepare as part of their Section 106 process.  It used to be that the only time you actually “listed” a property was when a private party wanted to secure the various tax benefits available for “listed” resources, or when a city was seeking formal National Register designation of a district.  NR documentation isn’t all that different than a DOE, though it has usually been expected to be a little more detailed and formalized.  Now, it appears that the DOE process and the NR process are merging a bit, toward simpler, shorter, reports.

Back in the day NR nominations were shockingly brief if not downright terse, often topping out at ten pages including maps and graphics.  When I was writing lots of these, in the 1980s and 1990s, they had expanded into a detailed narrative that often included scads of local history if for no other reason than a nomination was obligated to develop a context if it was making the claim that a particular building or property was significant within it.  I like to think that nominations from this period serve as valuable sources of information on the historic development of many small towns, or industries that would not otherwise be very well understood.  I mean if I was interested in the Walnut industry in southern Oregon during the pre-WWI period, I sure know where I would turn for information.

Well, apparently, NPS and perhaps the SHPOs too, have grown tired of lengthy history and are embarking on an effort to streamline the nomination process, perhaps so that more property owners will feel comfortable in preparing them on their own.  That’s fine, though I am not sure that lowering the documentation standards is in anyone’s long term best interests.  The national listservs (Forum-L) occasionally have small comments or complaints about fighting NR documentation “creep,” the implication being that those early 10 page nominations had it just about right (if you can’t prove it’s significant in ten pages, then it probably isn’t).  I am not so sure that is the right approach and I’m a little bit sorry to see the era of comprehensive documentation end.  What do you think?

The BPA Transmission System

Back to working on Bonneville Power Administration projects for the past few weeks, this time on a proposed transmission line that crosses the Columbia River between an established substation and a proposed new one that is being built to accommodate all of the new wind generation that is sprouting up along the Gorge.  This project is the first time I have gone through the “Registration Standards” that were developed as part of the BPA Multiple Property Documentation, applying them in a real world situation.

The MPD, which in one form or another has been under development for nearly five years, is intended as a significant management tool that will alleviate SOME of the paperwork that BPA and the eight SHPO offices it interacts with have to process.  Essentially, we defined a historic development context for BPA’s transmission system, all 15,000+ circuit miles and nearly 300 substations that allow them to be (more) easily reviewed for significance and establishes guidelines for evaluation of effect.  Hence the “Registration Standards” that I have been applying to the Big Eddy Substation and four transmission lines that will be affected by proposed project.  So far, so good, but then the two SHPOs haven’t had a chance to respond yet, and that will be the proverbial acid test.

Many people are somewhat surprised that a transmission line, or a switchyard, or a substation related to the generation and transmission of electricity could be considered historic.  Those are usually people who somehow think “historic” and “beautiful” are synonyms.  They aren’t, of course.  And when you think about a “system” that changed our way of life, that is associated with significant themes (like rural electrification, the development the defense or airplane industry in the Pacific Northwest, or the post-WWII development of our region) there are few elements of this region’s history with more impact than the decision to build dams on the Columbia River, create massive amounts of hydroelectricity, and distribute it at low cost throughout the region.  One could argue (and this one has) that there are few other Federal investments in the Pacific Northwest that have had more effect than the creation of BPA and the Federal Columbia River Power System.  The only things that even come close are the Interstate (which just replaced an earlier Federal system of highways) and the land grants associated with the arrival of the railroad.

Now I will turn my attention to the J. D. Ross Substation, in Vancouver, Washington.... a fascinating place that among other things demonstrates a utility can have a sense of style.