Barbershop Singing

The 59th Festival of Harmony barbershop singing event will be Saturday at 7pm at the Belhaven College Center for the Performing Arts on Riverside Drive. Tickets: $10 students, $20 adults. For more details: 601) 825-7301.

1119 Pinehurst

The Northeast Ledger highlights Miss Eudora's house:

It's featured in 1,000 Places To See in the USA and Canada Before You Die. Must See Mississippi: 50 Favorite Places, too. It sits at 1119 Pinehurst Street across from Belhaven College in Jackson in all its Tudor Revival magnificence, like a cottage plucked from an English village, tree-shaded and unassuming. "It" is the late Eudora Welty's home, now a major tourist attraction in Jackson's leafy Belhaven neighborhood.

Read the full story here: Welty's house, garden are Jackson treasures

Fortification

The Northside Sun updates us on the Fortification Street project.

Elmore Moody, an engineer with CivilTech, the firm hired by the city to oversee the project, presented an environmental document schedule to the city council, complete with tentative dates for setting a public hearing and acquiring property easements for construction.

Moody told the council that work on the $11 million project could begin in early 2009 if plans are approved by state, local and federal officials.

Other notable dates listed include a tentative public hearing, now slated for July 24.

In January 2009, engineers are planning to submit final plans to state officials for approval.

Once completed, the Fortification project is expected to improve traffic flow and the aesthetics of an approximately 1.25-mile stretch of the street running from Mill Street to Greymont Avenue.

It calls for converting the four-lane thoroughfare into a two-lane boulevard with a landscaped median and turn lane. In a previous interview, he said the plan would also include adding new lighting and widening sidewalks to meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards. The project would create a main street feel in the highly traveled area and would tie together some of the city’s historic districts, he said.

While the project would have quite a few benefits, engineers say it would also have some negative aspects. Traffic on side streets would incur longer delays between Greymont and Jefferson Street, inbound traffic at Greymont would be delayed during peak morning traffic and outbound traffic at Jefferson would be delayed longer during peak afternoon hours.

Construction crews will have to use some private property to work on the project, possibly affecting yards and driveways. And crews will also have to grate hills to make the roadway safer for motorists. One hill in particular, the one near Madison Street, will be lowered between 18 and 24 inches to improve motorists’ visibility. As a result, the slopes of some driveways and yards could change and some retaining walls would have to be built to prevent erosion.

Many of the 120 properties along the 1.25-mile stretch have easements in place that will allow the city to temporarily access the property for construction. An easement allows the city to use the property temporarily as long as they restore it to its original condition when they’re done using it.

•Week of May 5 - submit Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act for project effects on historic properties to MDOT who will forward to MDAH;

•May 13 - city council to approve preferred alternative;

•May 15 - assuming MDAH finds no adverse affects, MDAH will submit reports and recommendations to the National Advisory Council in Washington, D.C.;

•June 15 - submit environmental document to MDOT, including Section 106 report. Request to advertise for public hearing;

•June 24 - MDOT commission approves environmental assessment to advertise for public hearing;

•July 1 - advertise in statewide paper;

• July 24 - public hearing;

•August 4, final environmental assessment submitted to MDOT with public hearing documentation;

•September 2008 - MDOT/Federal Highway Authority concur in finding of no significant impact (FONSI);

•After September, begin the process of obtaining easements, which will require prior approval by the city for right of way service;

•January 2009 - plans, contract documents, easements completed, submit to MDOT for approval.

Read the full story here: Council approves three-lane plan - Moody outlines plans for Fortification

Belhaven Park

The Northside Sun says plans for Belhaven Park are moving forward:

On March 28, the commission voted to accept the Greater Belhaven Neighborhood Foundation’s (GBNF) proposal to improve the park located between Poplar Street and Moody Creek. And last week, the city council voted unanimously to accept two parcels of land from the foundation, greatly expanding the size of the park, and entered into an agreement with the group that will allow them to improve the green space now that it’s changed hands.

GBNF Executive Director Virgi Lindsay said she’s pleased with the decisions and is looking forward to implementing their plans to build up the urban area. Lindsay envisions a park complete with walking trails, benches and serene spots to meditate. “This will be a place where professionals can eat lunch, read a book or escape from the city,” she said. The park will be an ideal spot for Baptist Hospital employees to visit during their lunch hour.

To date, the foundation has brought in $150,000 for the project. Last summer, GBNF spent $40,000 to purchase a strip of land from property owner John Lewis. And late last year, the city council voted to close a portion of Kenwood Place, doubling the size of the neighborhood park. Belhaven couple Margaret and Brett Cupples also recently donated a small parcel of land on Gillespie Street for the park. Last week, both strips of land were accepted by the city council.

Overton Moore, a local landscape architect, has drawn updesigns for the park. And Stratton Bull, a Belhaven attorney who lives near the park, has helped GBNF with legal matters.

Read the full story here: Belhaven Park project includes walking trails; now owned by city

Baptist development update

The Northside Sun updates us on the Belhaven-Baptist development:

Baptist Health Systems is one step closer to finding a developer to transform its property east of the hospital’s North State Street campus into a mixed-use development. Spokesman Robby Channell said the hospital has named three finalists for the project including Belz Enterprises out of Memphis, Townsend Capital out of Baltimore, Md., and the Jackson development team of Mattiace Properties, Peters Real Estate and Ben Walker.

He said a firm could be chosen in the next couple of months. Requests for Proposals from the developers are due on Friday, June 13, to be considered for master developer.

Late last year, the hospital hosted an event at a Belhaven neighborhood meeting to discuss plans to develop approximately 8.69 acres of land bordered by Fortification, Poplar, North State and Jefferson streets. Baptist President and CEO Kurt Metzner told residents at the meeting that he would like to see development that would include office and retail space, a small hotel and residential units. Metzner also told the crowd that he wanted to work with the Greater Belhaven Neighborhood Association (GBNF) to make sure the property would be in character with the neighborhood’s character.

Now, the property is home to Baptist’s laundromat service and several abandoned office buildings, also owned by Baptist.

Read the full story here: Three finalists named to develop Belhaven project for Baptist