Clinton Planning Director Mary Rose presents rendered drawings of a proposed venue stage and greenspace near the city market during Tuesday’s Clinton City Council meeting.
A rendered drawing for the stage in downtown Clinton shows the incorporation of a millstone designs as well as lights and a place for equipment to be unloaded for events.
Roseboro could have a little competition when it comes to stage venues.
Earlier this week, at the Clinton City Council meeting, Planning Director Mary Rose addressed members about building a permanent venue stage near the city market, a stage which could be used for entertainment purposes for city events, such as Alive After Five, and festivals, like Square Fair. The construction would be tied to the continuing downtown revitalization project’s Phase IV.
Phase IV was presented as a way to utilize green space next to the Clinton City Market parking area, with a possible venue stage designed to host concerts and other activities and events. This would also include having utility lines in the area of Lisbon Street moved underground between Main Street and the market area.
According to Rose, the stage will be approximately 30 feet wide, 20 feet deep and have a place conducive for loading and unloading equipment for band gear, and set designs.
The next step would be preliminary engineering, a $235,000 expenditure. “We have to get the preliminary engineer before we put it out for bids” Rose told the city council as she showed members preliminary drawings detailing what the stage would look like.
While the stage might have some tweaks to the design, Rose reassured the council there wouldn’t be any major overhauls, noting, “The stage won’t change much from the diagram,” she attested.
Construction of the stage and green space area would shrink the parking area beside the market area slightly , Rose explained. “It would take about 20 parking spaces away from the city farmer’s market, which is under utilized at this time” she stressed.
City planning, she said, had recently received a $237,500 grant from N.C. Department of Commerce Rural Downtown Economic Development (RDEDG). This grant’s purpose is tied to jobs created or retained in the project area.
A pedestrian walkway is also being considered across Lisbon as part of Phase IV, “to get people across safely,” Rose explained during her presentation. And a new event billboard, providing information on upcoming events, is also being considered for the downtown, along with a decorative dumpster corral, offering more aesthetically pleasing necessities.
Rose noted the estimated construction cost for Phase IV stands at $1,970,204. She also shared that planning staff is awaiting notice of another possible grant award for this project in the coming weeks for $50,000, but there are no guarantees this extra funding will come.
The downtown revitalization project, almost a quarter of a century in the making, has seen progress since its inception back in 2000.
No action by city council was needed for the item. The stage is still in the planning phase, and no completion dates were given during the Tuesday meeting.