By Amanda Raymond
amanda.raymond@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — The Historic Preservation Commission has approved a Certificate of Appropriateness for flagpoles to be installed at City Hall.

The commission met at 217 S. Main St. on Thursday to discuss the request.

Commissioner Elizabeth Trick was absent from the meeting.

Lynn Raker, an urban design planner, represented the city for the meeting.

The three aluminum flagpoles will be on the side of City Hall that faces South Main Street. They will be close to the curb and centered to the building so that the American flag will be in front of the front doors.

The American flagpole will stand 25 feet high and the state and city flagpoles will be 20 feet high.

For comparison, Raker said the light poles in front of City Hall are about 18 feet high.

The flags will be lit with ground lighting that Raker said would be subtle and only light the flags.

The surface of the pavement could either be resurfaced with a thin material that looks like concrete or one that has brick patterns. The commission agreed that either one would be fine.

Raker said the city is planning extensive work on the sidewalks in that area, so she didn’t want to put permanent pavement that the city ended up taking out in the future.

“It’s really a function of funding at this point and also not doing something now that we might tear out later,” she said.

Raker also said the city wanted to add two concrete pedestals for plaques. One pedestal would hold the “Salisbury Sister Cities” bronze marker that is currently in the sidewalk near City Hall and the other might display a Sauthier 1700s map of the city.

Clyde, a local artist and collector, spoke during the public hearing.

He said he was concerned about the new granite curbing the city wanted to put in when there are granite curbs that needed to be fixed at other places downtown. He said there was plenty of granite curbing available to be used for the flagpoles.

Clyde said the pedestals for the plaques should be granite since other ones around the city are granite. He was also worried that the seal on the city flag would have the wrong date for when the city was established.

Raker later said that although the original plans included granite curbing, it is no longer included since the city is planning sidewalk improvements.

Commissioner CJ Peters said the commission had no jurisdiction on the flag, but he did agree that the pedestals should be granite.

Commissioner Dan DeGraaf said granite pedestals seemed more in line.

“The granite pedestal appeared to be more appropriate than concrete,” he said.

Raker said granite pedestals would be more expensive and it might take longer to install the second one, but she would do it if the commission required it.

The commission ended up issuing a Certificate of Appropriateness to the project, with the condition that the pedestals be granite instead of concrete.

In other business, the commission approved a Certificate of Appropriateness for:

• The removal of brick pavers, installation of a French drain and gutter downspout, pouring of a concrete sidewalk and patio for a property in the 200 block of West Monroe Street.
• The demolition of a storage building in the backyard of a property in the 200 block of West Horah Street.
• The change of the surface of a parking lot from gravel to concrete in the 400 block of North Lee Street.

Commissioner Dan DeGraaf was elected as vice-chair.

Contact reporter Amanda Raymond at 704-797-4222.