Toward a new Bakersville

Bakersville’s monthly town council meeting at the end of December opened with Mayor Charles Vines describing a comic scene in town that day, as a blustery wind unanchored numerous holiday decorations downtown.

“I found myself running down the road, chasing after decorations,” Vines said.

Much of the discussion in the remainder of the meeting focused on the Bakersville Recovery and Revitalization Project Portfolio, with its plans to rejuvenate Mitchell County’s seat, as well as providing tentative figures on the funding necessary to realize project goals.

Six project ideas were presented to Mayor Vines and Council members Charles Nash and Gary Hyatt, ideas geared toward revitalizing a post-Helene Bakersville, both culturally and economically. These projects represented the priorities established through a consortium of groups, including the Rebuild Bakersville Steering Committee, the Bakersville Beautification Association, and the Appalachian Design Center, aligned with the American Institute of Architects Foundation’s “Community by Design” and architect Jeanne Gang, whose Chicago-based firm, Studio Gang, was instrumental in the “Recover, Rebuild, and Renew Bakersville” event held last May. Gang, Andy Palmer from the Bakersville Beautification Association, as well as other local and regional leaders attended the Town Council meeting.

Each of the six projects and their projected costs were broken down and described by Dale B. Carroll, a partner with Sanford Holshouser, the Asheville-based economic development and consulting firm. The projects range from a community hub to creek walk restoration and streetscape improvements.

The primary project is the “Town Square and Community Hub Resiliency Center,” an idea which emerged from May’s “Recover, Rebuild” event. Designed by Gang and her firm as a “civic anchor” and “community landmark,” Carroll described the projected hub by comparing it to two similar, nearby developments that have successfully achieved similar goals for their own towns: Bladenboro’s Town Square urban development project and the Tailgate Market in Marion.

The preliminary estimated cost for the community hub is $3,740,000. Hyatt raised questions around potential funding sources, which would have to include both state and federal money. Carroll answered by describing conversations that are continuing with Reginald Speight, the assistant secretary of Rural Economic Development for North Carolina, and with Hillary Sherman of the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

Other than the financing of the individual projects, the Town Council was also concerned that a few of the plans, particularly the renovation and adaptive reuse of downtown municipal buildings, didn’t currently distinguish between the town’s property, county property, and private property.

“You have to remember that we are the second smallest incorporated town in Western North Carolina,” Vines said. “We are limited by what we can do.”

While the Town Council signaled interest in the presented projects, they agreed to return to the subject at a future date when more concrete information on funding was forthcoming.