Some of us were led to believe there would be no more five-story buildings on Main Street. Yet here is another one, to be plunked down in another part of what is left of the cherished old street, where it will be a beckoning beacon for more of its kind in order to close a gap of its own making.
At the rate the City Council is making exceptions, it appears that Old Town Newhall will be eventually “exceptioned” into a five-or-more-story commercial zone with no “Old Town” left. We have enough tall buildings at one end of the street and no more should be allowed. This is a bad precedent. Present and future speculators should not be encouraged to expect “exceptions.” Instead, they should be met with staunch resistance to such requests for exception.
And: $750,000 in exchange for a heritage building? What will be the price for the next one? Morally ambiguous, questionable arrangement in furtherance of an ill-advised project? Bad precedent at the very least.
None of the renderings or elevations depict the street and neighborhood as it will appear with such a building in its midst. If they did, it would be immediately obvious that the project is not appropriate to the sensitive Main Street neighborhood. It would be perfectly clear that such a building can only impose itself on and detract from the small-town ambience we all love and which attracts visitors. The street cries out for small, carefully integrated additions and replacements only when necessary and truly beneficial. Instead of encouraging the imposition of comparatively large commercial buildings, the council should place itself in a position of defending and encouraging the preservation of not only the historic buildings but also the ambience of the small-town neighborhood that supports and displays it to advantage.
The proposed project is a nice-looking building that belongs somewhere else, possibly only a few blocks away. In its proposed location, it will be so out of place that it can only justify its presence by demanding more neighbors of its own ilk, which will in turn demand their own exceptions and eventually result in … what? A gap-toothed profile of alternating modern buildings grudgingly leaving a few spaces for what’s left of our heritage street? Mr. TimBen Boydston (guest commentary, April 18) has correctly pointed out that we are already on a slippery slope regarding the future of this precious resource. Surely three stories would be enough in this location. Surely the street would be better served by a facade that evokes something of the appearance of an Old West hotel or something similar.
The murals on the side of the proposed building are a feeble attempt to make the building “fit in.” They look like postage stamps pasted onto the walls. (Never mind the question of how they would be maintained.) They do nothing to mitigate the swollen effect of the inappropriate project.
Protestations and declarations of support for small business have been belied by the council’s actions. Among the city’s earliest desecrations was allowing Newhall Hardware to die. The situation has not improved since then and we are losing our heritage and the small business diversity that is part of it. We already have plenty of restaurants on that street.
Our burgeoning city is incredibly gifted by the existence of its own local radio station already in place and contributing to our community. How can the council stand by and allow that station to be threatened or lost for lack of support from local government, all in order to enable and benefit an oversized project that does not belong in our historic street?
Marilyn Thomas
Canyon Country
