South Main Widening Recommended For Highland Plaza

By Andrew Gorosko

The Police Commission is recommending that the applicant who plans to convert the former Fireside Inn into a retail and restaurant complex be required to widen a nearby section of South Main Street to facilitate traffic flow in that area.

At a Police Commission session on February 6, panel members unanimously agreed that Highland HC, LLC, should provide a turning lane on South Main Street (Route 25) to allow southbound motorists to safely make a left turn into the complex’s driveway. Such an added lane would let southbound traffic to continue flowing past vehicles that are stopped and are waiting to make a left turn.

The Police Commission, which is the local traffic authority, is making that recommendation to the state Department of Transportation (DOT), which has jurisdiction over South Main Street, a state road.

Work is continuing on the redevelopment of 123 South Main Street, where the site of the former Fireside Inn is being transformed into the future Highland Plaza. The Highland Plaza project includes the demolition of the western end of the former Fireside Inn and its replacement with new facilities. The Fireside Inn was a restaurant, banquet hall, and catering facility.

In November, P&Z approved the developer’s initial construction phase of Highland Plaza. P&Z was scheduled to review plans for the second phase of the project at a meeting scheduled for the night of February 15, after the deadline for this edition of The Bee.

The ongoing renovation work would increase the former Fireside structure’s size by less than 1,500 square feet, expanding it to a floor area of 31,896 square feet. Approximately 6,050 square feet of that building would be reserved for a future 120-seat restaurant. The remaining 25,846 square feet of space is currently designated as “ancillary storage space,” but would be put to retail uses in the future, according to the developer. That area formerly served as the Fireside’s larger banquet hall.

The various changes being made to the structure will have it meet applicable building codes, including fire codes and handicap access codes.

A future redevelopment phase would entail constructing a new approximately 20,000-square-foot retail structure lying south of the renovated structure.

People living near the site have expressed concerns over the impact of redevelopment planned for the property, focusing largely on their quality of life and the traffic that would be generated by new commercial uses in that congested area. The site is in a B-2 Business zone.

P&Z Chairman William O’Neil has said the P&Z is “extremely concerned” about the traffic effects of such redevelopment. “Traffic will be a big issue,” he has said.