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City street closing dissussion sparks reopening interest
After handling seven city street closure requests, some involving multiple streets, new Greencastle City Councilman Cody Eckert pulled a reverse.
Eckert, the city’s new Fourth Ward councilman, asked Mayor Bill Dory when the public could expect to see the end of the street closure on South Indiana Street in front of the new Breadworks bakery.
The developers of Breadworks, which includes Bridges Craft Pizza and Pasta in Greencastle, have asked if they could maintain the street until the contractor is finished with the brick facade portion of the project.
“The reason the street is closed,” Mayor Dory explained is primarily for safety reasons.
“The reality is,” the mayor continued, “we don’t have a lot of space downtown for construction projects. That building takes up 100 percent of the site, so there’s no room to really operate.
“I granted permission to close the street for the steel erection,” the mayor said. “They’ve asked if they could maintain the street closure while they’re doing the brick facade. The last thing we want to happen is for somebody to drop a brick when they’re up on the scaffolding and have it bounce and hit somebody in the head or go through a car windshield.”
Before the steel went up and Indiana Street was closed off between Walnut and Poplar, people were walking in the street with some dangerously close to the construction area, Dory said.
“Hopefully, the weather cooperates and they can get a lot of brick work done and we can get the street back open,” Dory said.
“It’s real tight space,” the mayor reiterated. “For safety purposes, it’s probably the best.”
With no definitve date available for reopening, Eckert moved on, summarizing what he was told.
“So our priority is to get it open as soon as possible,” the councilman said. “Getting it open would be good for everybody.”
Meanwhile, the Council took action on seven street closing requests and related projects, including.
-- DePauw University for its annual commencement processional on Sunday, May 17 and practice on Friday, May 15. Hanna Street will be closed briefly 10-11:30 a.m. May 15 and 10-11 a.m. May 17. Simpson Street, which runs along the south side of Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church, will be closed from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, May 17. The church is being notified of the street closure by DePauw.
-- Greencastle Presbyterian Church and Big Bounce Funhouse for their Second Saturday events from April through October (with the exception of June). South Indiana Street will be closed from Starbucks to Taphouse on those second Saturdays.
-- Main Street Greencastle for its monthly First Friday events from April though October (including September for the Taste of Greencastle event). The usual streets were requested, Franklin (from Jackson to Vine), and Indiana (from Franklin to Poplar).
-- A Kinetic Change, the seventh annual CARR 5K Run, set for Saturday, June 13 at 5 p.m. The race will start and end at Deer Meadow School in the Deer Field Estates Subdivision. Streets in the area are monitored but never closed. However, organizer Julie Carr asked that Indiana Street be closed from the square to Walnut Street for the after-celebration, now in its third year. A noise waiver for music was also granted until midnight for that event.
-- Putnam County Chamber of Commerce, which is again contracting with the city to run the Farmers Market from May 9 through Oct. 3. Street closure requests include Indiana Street from Washington to Franklin and Franklin from Indiana to Jackson.
-- DePauw Office of Alumni Engagement was granted a noise ordinance waiver for 8-10:30 p.m. Friday, June 12 and 8-11:30 p.m. Saturday, June 13. DPU representative Wendy Wippich said the university is not requesting any street closures this year and will not be having a downtown block party on South Indiana Street as it has the last couple of years.
-- Little 5 bicycle race street closure request for time trials for 4-7 p.m. on April 22 and April 25 along Anderson Street and Calbert Way, east of the access to Ascena and Area 30. Street closures on campus for the April 25 race will be South Locust, East Hanna, South Indiana and East Olive.