Town Hall Square restoration plan impresses commission

The Landmarks Preservation Commission largely praised a preliminary design for the Town Hall Square Historic District restoration project presented Thursday by architect Mark Marsh and landscape designer Jorge Sanchez.

Well done so far. This is gorgeous, said Commissioner Elizabeth Murphy.

I love the pleached oaks. I think they are brilliant, said alternate member Anne Fairfax, an architect.

The plan calls for adding 22-foot parallel parking spaces and tabby-concrete sidewalks to the perimeter of Memorial Park; changing the existing rows of tall Royal Palms to shorter coconut palms; placing a large kapok tree on each side of the Addison Mizner-designed fountain to create a canopy; adding stairs to the south side of the Addison fountain; installing an allee of live oaks with tops clipped into squares on the south side; and changing parking spaces on the west side of the two-block area of County Road to parallel spaces. The design would increase spaces in the district from 41 to 66.

The stairs make the park much more usable because once you are in the park, you can go down the center, said Commissioner Penny Townsend.

The plan also would increase green space in the island north of the town-owned park and eliminate a curb that divides the park from green space just north of Town Hall.

Thats a big improvement, Murphy said.

Chairman Ted Cooney said hes glad the Town Council has gotten behind the project. In November, the council designated up to $5.7 million through bond financing for park and district improvements, expecting that residents and businesses also would contribute money.

Cooney argued for keeping Royal Palms on each side of the reflecting pool, but others including Murphy, William Feldkamp and William Strawbridge, agreed with Sanchez that tightly spaced rows of the shorter coconut palm would provide more shade. Marsh called Cooneys idea to add narrow landscaped areas to existing sidewalks a good one.

Fairfax suggested that a crosswalk closer to the center of the park might be more convenient than having to use crosswalks at the north and south ends of Town Hall, but Marsh said doing so could cost up to eight parking spaces. District merchants, Marsh said, are thrilled at the prospect of more parking.

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Town Hall Square restoration plan impresses commission