Pocket park planned

By Cindy Landrum  

JANUARY 12, 2012 12:15 p.m. (0)

A narrow nondescript alley on West Main Street is being turned into a small respite for downtown visitors, a venue for occasional small events and a demonstration place for low-impact development techniques.

The pocket park will be in the alley between the Masonic Temple, where the Hub City Bookshop, The Coffee Bar and Cakehead Bakery are located, and the former Cantrell Wagon company building, home to Carriage House Wines & Wine Bar.

Pocket parks are small-scale urban open spaces that provide an area for small events, lunch breaks and a resting spot for visitors, said Angela Viney, director of the Spartanburg office of Upstate Forever.

In addition to bench-style seating, trees, lighting and a steel trellis that will provide shade on the north side of the park, Spartanburg’s pocket park will also contain 1,600 square feet of permeable pavers, Viney said.

Upstate Forever is one of the public and private entities developing the park, along with Hub-Culture and the City of Spartanburg. Other private entities that want to remain anonymous are also involved.

The project will cost $40,000 with the city paying half and the other entities paying the other half, said Will Rothschild, the city’s communication manager.

Construction started this week and is supposed to last four to five weeks.

Viney said Upstate Forever held several workshops last year about storm water and discussion turned to low-impact development techniques and storm water management.

Three-quarters of the 2,000- square-foot park will be covered with permeable pavers that will filter storm water runoff.

“Most people think storm water is treated,” Viney said. “It’s not. It goes directly into our creeks, streams and rivers. So much we do on a daily basis affects storm water,” she said.

Other entities were interested in developing a pocket park for aesthetics, Viney said.

Betsy Teter, executive director, of the HubCulture, the organization that opened the bookstore on West Main, said the bookstore and Hub City Writer’s Project plans to hold some public events in the park such as open mics and author readings.

The park does not have an official name. Rothschild said the park would eventually be named.

The land is owned by the Masonic Corporation, which agreed to lease the land and allow it to be developed into the pocket park.