by Leah Justice
Tryon’s Maple St. sidewalk project is nearing completion, but as of Wednesday, the town was still unsure where to place a kiosk originally planned to stand inside the St. Luke’s Plaza.
Tryon Town Council met Aug. 19 and discussed several possible locations for the kiosk, built by Bill Crowell.
Town manager Joey Davis said the town had discussed placing it in the St. Luke’s Plaza, the depot plaza and even at Tryon Resort, which had shown an interest.
“It seems like every time we talk about a place there’s objections,” Davis told commissioners.
Commissioner Bill Ingham said the town has talked about it enough, saying if the kiosk will fit, to put it in the planter next to Foothills Realty.
“I’d like to see it go in and be done with it,” Ingham said.
Commissioner George Baker agreed, saying to get it done as soon as possible.
“I’m tired of hashing at it,” said Baker.
Commissioner Happy McLeod cautioned to check with the Foothills Chamber of Commerce because part of the kiosk was paid for with a grant from them.
Davis said the chamber specified the kiosk be located in the downtown area.
Crowell said the kiosk will not fit in the planter. He said the posts are bigger than the flowerbed and it would cover half the donor wall that is there now. He also said if it’s placed at the depot plaza it would be there for the merchants because the plaza is a merchant parking lot. Crowell suggested placing it at the clock tower.
“This thing’s big and I was told to make it big,” Crowell said.
He added that the Tryon Downtown Development Association (TDDA) told him they wanted people to be able to step under it when it is raining, which is the reason he made the roof as it is.
The question was asked what is wrong with the original area?
Crowell said the kiosk was supposed to be set before the final pouring but it wasn’t.
Mary Prioleau suggested putting it on the corner at town hall at the garden. Joyce Kimpton suggested placing it between the Nina Simone Park and Morris the horse.
“This is the problem,” Ingham said. “We have five different opinions of where it needs to go.”
At the meeting council came to a consensus to drill in order to place the kiosk where it was originally planned (where the roof is pictured). Later, council members debated the location again, and were leaning towards placing it in the bump-out at the top of Maple St. . Davis said the size of the kiosk is the reason council members are backing off the original location since it would be in the middle of the plaza.
The Maple St. project is scheduled to be complete next week as well as the placement of the kiosk. Trace & Company is completing the work at Maple St., as well as work at the depot plaza. Once Maple St. is complete, Trace & Company will move to complete work on the first phase of the depot plaza.
The town also plans to do sidewalk repair along the block of Owen’s Pharmacy. Original plans were to do repairs between Owen’s and Buck’s Pizza, but during the council meeting commissioner Roy Miller suggested repairing the entire sidewalk, saying it makes sense to do the entire block while the equipment is out. Council decided to get a new quote to replace the entire sidewalk from Maple to Oak St. prior to commencing that work.