An outdoor seating and dining space will temporarily occupy nine parking spaces on Main Street between Restaurant Tyler and Moe’s Original BBQ, thanks to a 5-2 board of aldermen vote Tuesday.
The Streatery was proposed and designed by the Carl Small Town Center in Mississippi State University’s College of Architecture, Art and Design, and the board unanimously approved the concept at its June 16 meeting.
It will hopefully bring activity and “a sense of place” to a downtown that has been subdued by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Lynn Spruill said.
“Multiple cities have done this across the country, and I think (it will create) opportunities to feel a little better about being in our downtown area,” she said.
The project will not use any city funds. The nearby restaurants will provide patio furniture, the city will provide its own planters and benches, and the Starkville Main Street Association will provide plants, all as in-kind donations. The seating will be placed six feet apart in keeping with social distancing protocols.
The Streatery will also include a painted design on the street, umbrellas and strings of lights hanging over the tables, cinder block barriers between the tables and the Main Street traffic, and ramps so wheelchair users can access the area. The Carl Small Town Center will spend $2,390 on the project, according to the budget provided with the meeting agenda.
Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver and Ward 6 Alderman and Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins were the two dissenting votes. Carver spoke in favor of the Streatery at the June 16 meeting but changed his mind Tuesday after hearing objections from attorney Charles Bruce Brown, who gave the board a list of signatures from citizens with businesses and offices on Main Street opposed to the Streatery.
Brown’s office sits between Restaurant Tyler and 929 Coffee Bar, right in front of the Streatery’s future home. He claimed the Streatery would only benefit a few restaurants — Tyler, 929 and Moe’s — and therefore would violate the state law prohibiting the use of a public space for a private business or industry.
“The message the board is sending is that y’all care about one business and not the rest of us downtown,” Brown said.
City Attorney Chris Latimer explained that the Streatery is legal because it is “a repurposing of public space for a different public use” and should benefit more businesses than just a handful on the south block of Main Street.
“Someone could go across the street to the Pita Pit and grab a sandwich and come eat at one of the tables,” Latimer said. “Someone could go to the courthouse and check out a file and review that file at that table. Somebody could buy a book at Book Mart and start to read that book at one of those tables, (and) someone could be in Mr. Brown’s lobby and take a break to go outside while someone else is being consulted in his office.”
Carver said he wanted to respect the wishes of those who signed the petition that Brown provided.
“This list of names (includes) people that we know personally, not only business owners but also people who are involved with chancery, circuit and city court,” Carver said.
Brown also expressed concerns about reducing the availability of parking on Main Street, and Carver agreed, but other aldermen and Spruill said downtown Starkville has plenty of parking.
Spruill said she sought the approval of the SMSA board, comprised mostly of downtown business owners, before she brought the concept of the Streatery before the aldermen. Ward 3 Alderman David Little is a member of the SMSA board and said the downtown area is “hemorrhaging businesses” due to the pandemic.
The Streatery will help “keep these restaurants going downtown after 5 p.m. when business offices close and get a little bit of nightlife down there,” Little said.
In other business, the board voted to restore full pay to city department heads, a cost-cutting measure enacted in April in anticipation of a sales tax revenue shortfall due to the pandemic. Ward 2 Alderman Sandra Sistrunk amended the resolution to allow for all city staffers indefinitely furloughed, another cost cut, to be restored to full-time employment July 17 if the city’s sales tax revenues are no more than $135,000, or 20 percent, less than they were at this time last year.
The board approved the resolution unanimously via the consent agenda with no discussion.
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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