Monument Island Restoration—

Borough Officials Vote To Remove Granite Fencing

By Dottie Evans

Responding to a virtual flood of negative comments regarding the half-completed and much criticized granite fencing at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at the top of Main Street, the Board of Borough Burgesses voted 4 to 2 at its regular meeting Tuesday night to remove the posts –– and they want to see them gone from the property as soon as possible.

“It has become a passionate subject, and most opinions have been on the negative side,” said Warden Joan Crick.

“This was not our intention. We had hoped to do something nice for the town for the tercentennial, but it just didn’t work out,” she added.

The consensus among the majority of board members was that the granite fence project designed to essentially enclose the triangular park (with openings at the three corners) got off to a bad start.

Initially, the posts were cut too long so there was the appearance of a massive-looking barrier that obstructed rather than enhanced the view to the monument. Sightline issues came up almost immediately on the part of town and state officials, and the state highway department insisted that the Main Street posts be removed and replaced further back from the road. It was at this point, after the removal of the first Main Street fence line, that opposition seemed to gather momentum.

“No one realized looking at the architect’s drawings, exactly what it would look like. It’s just not going to work,” said Mrs Crick before asking for a motion for removal.

During the period for public comment, Bee Publisher Scudder Smith spoke against the fence project and referred to an original architect’s rendering of the site dating back to the early 1930s “with no hint of a fence.”

“It looks much better without the fence. There are benches all around and it is good looking from every side. It’s not the kind of place that needs to be fenced in,” he added.

In later comments, Mr Smith noted that safety issues should not figure in the board’s decision since “in all the years I’ve photographed accidents in this town, I’ve never seen a car or truck go into that monument. And if it ever did, those granite posts would never stop anything,” he added.

Mr Smith also recommended that the board consider changing the lighting so that all sides of the monument are lit at night.

“When you’re driving up Hanover Road, all you can see is shadow because [the monument] isn’t lit from the back. It’s weird and harsh looking now,” Mr Smith remarked.

Before taking a vote, the board heard from two members who were not ready to give up on the project without a fight. Jim Gaston mentioned hearing some positive comments related to the project from community members, and he said that the borough board and the Historic District Commission had “done the legwork” before signing on.

“We have contracted for this work. Now, at this stage, when it hasn’t even been completed, people say they don’t like it. I have difficulties with the procedural process here,” Mr Gaston said.

He added that he wished people with negative opinions had “come to the meetings” before the posts were ordered.

Another board member, Betsy Kenyon, suggested modifying the fence by substituting a hanging chain for the rails between the posts, adding annuals to soften the effect, and lowering the height of the posts.

“Put it in and then try it. After a year, we could take it out if we didn’t like it,” she suggested.

But Joseph Maher preferred to end the debate then and there.

“It’s time to call it a day. I must have been up there at the site 25 times since [the posts first went in] and I had people stopping in their cars to tell me it was hideous. We can’t put earrings on an elephant. There isn’t anyone out there that is for it,” he concluded.

As a result of the board’s decision, the granite posts will be removed from the site and the renovation of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument will proceed as planned with regard to landscape plantings designed by landscape architect Brid Craddock of Craddock’s Heirloom Gardens. The plantings will be installed in the spring around the already completed brick pathways.