Courthouse landscaping
Posted by Backroadsnews on Aug 14, 2009 in Uncategorized |
Oy made a comment on another post about the landscaping (or lack thereof) around the courthouse.
I’ve always felt there should be a master plan for the entire courthouse property. A couple trees should probably be removed, some more landscaping added in a couple places, and a major prune job on the sycamore’s base southwest of the courthouse.
Anyway, what do you all think should be done with the courthouse’s landscape, both at the base of the courthouse building and also on the lawn.
I know the shrub landscaping around the building was an Eagle Scout project, but I don’t know who is responsible for upkeep.
It’s really strange how some people have an eye for these kind of things. I have never been able to look at a lawn and envision something in my mind. I guess landscaping is unimportant to me (which most people can probably tell by my yard). In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a landscape that made me think “wow, I wish my yard looked like that”.
I hope you get some good ideas Dan, and hopefully the Commissioners will the take the ideas and do something with them.
Dawn
I have a couple of thoughts on the landscaping:
1- Must we kill the grass up to a foot from any object including the sidewalks? Can the side buy an edger or a weed-eater?
2- The east side of the courthouse appears to get far less attention than the west. Personally, I think it is the more aesthetically pleasing view.
3- The handicap ramp/concrete jungle is as ugly as always on the west side. Why could they not have left the original openings on the north and south side of the stairway and used those for dual ramps? I had high hopes that since they were pouring all kinds of new concrete around there that they would consider how the front of the courthouse looks, but apparently that is either unimportant or the people in charge have awful taste. (I understand why they put the curb cut in, but why did they need to do the rest of the concrete work recently?)
4- They could limit the number of memorial lamps/recycled pop bottle benches. They detract from better things, like the canon.
5- The flagpole and Statue of Liberty look like they could use a coat of paint.
6- I am a big fan of trees, but that enormous pine tree is a bit of a distraction.
There’s a good start!
Ahh the pine tree.
Sometimes I feel like I gained very little from college, but that pine tree is a direct contradiction to what I was taught in my woody plant materials class at K-State – that there are certain trees that fit certain locations. This choice would not be approved by the textbook.
I know it is the Hospice tree, but if you look closely, it has a crooked trunk and a split leader, so it actually will never be a properly shaped tree.
Replacing it with something else should be considered.
I also agree on the memorials. I know a few of the trees are memorials on the property. We should have some guidelines on memorials, otherwise there is the potential of a wide variety of trees arbitrarily placed in a variety of locations around the courthouse lawn. It could make a big mess if there isn’t some pre-planning for the landscape. I don’t think there should be memorial trees planted on the lawn unless there is some major reason – like in honor of a law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty or something. Even then it should be intentionally chosen and located – rather than the buyer’s choice species plopped down wherever we can find a bare spot.
This isn’t a private yard. These things should be done with the next hundred years in mind.
ADA screwed up the entry. I don’t know why they didn’t leave the steps and put a ramp down to the lower level from the side under the steps.
why do they put in memorial trees and yet they didnt want the veterans memorial on the lawn? I agree there are enough trees on the lawn and they need taken care of. Also the beds up close to the building need something. They took up the mulch and then did nothing. I also agree about the edging by the sidewalks, roundup kills more than intended. The ramp is ugly but could be beautifulied around it somewhat and maybe help the looks. I have noticed other courthouse lawns that are beautiful, wish I could say that about ours.
Wow. Your county must be doing really well in these economic woes if you all are making plans to spend money on landscaping! Most places are asking for volunteers with mowing and planting flowers/shrubs/ trees, etc… What is the secret? Let me know what the commissioners say, Dan.
Actually, one of the blog readers suggested this topic for discussion so I posted it. I don’t think anyone is planning on going to a commission meeting, we’re just discussing. I sure as heck am not going to the commissioners. If I show up in support of something there, I’m betting it will quickly be put on the backburner.
Since you mentioned it, I’ve always felt they should’ve formed a volunteer landscape committee to look into this situation. We have a lot of folks in the county with a lot of knowledge about this topic (Master Gardeners) who could probably come up with something low maintenance, yet aesthetically pleasing.
We don’t need to pay a consultant for any labor.
I have always felt that something like this is the responsiblity of the citizens. That property belongs to the taxpayers and we should take the time and effort to take care of it. This is a great example of how tax money could be saved if the citizens took the time to do the work. We shouldn’t expect the city/county to do it all. Then when budget cuts come along people won’t be so mad when the landscaping goes away. Maybe a committee should be formed, on a volunteer basis? Maybe someone on good terms with the commissioners could suggest this? Just an idea.
I wasn’t talking about a lot of money spent on fancy landscaping. I was only thinking that the weeds around the building could be taken care of.
okay, i have kept still for awhile again but here i go. i post on articles that i know about i am jan alldredge. first some of the benches on the lawn of the courthouse honor people who spent their life working there. my father was one of those, wilbur westing, he was register of deeds for 34 years. most of you don’t know that my father was handicapped, walked with crutches for 36+years. he went to work everyday even in the snow and ice and there was no handicap access. he went up and down the stairs as anyone else. my point is clean up the handicap area!! all you would have to do is take out the weeds,spray to kill the weeds, lay ground cover and make it a nice rock garden.
second there is a simple solution for the keeping of the court house grounds,
people who need communitity service and possible the inmates could be responsible for this. i know we always have people needing something to do for community service and this would put them in the public eye and maybe make them think twice about the crime they committed and would not cost the county anything. it is a shame to see the eagle project look so bad. this is just a suggestion but hopefully would solve two problems.
That would be a great community service project! Even for kids wanting to get community service hour credit for their school – I know some schools give out recognition for a certain amount of volunteer hours and since this is the county courthouse, any school student could get involved.
And definitely on some of the DUI-type inmates. I’m betting they would love to get out to do that too, and wouldn’t be any sort of threat to the public.
Great idea!! This type of service is definetly underused in Washinton Co. One of my kids had to do some community service a few years ago and he had trouble finding any place to do it. No one wanted to sign off on the hours he would put in, or it was to much trouble to “find’ something for him to do. At that point in his life he had had summer jobs roofing and had even worked at the County one summer, so your basic weed pulling, rock hauling, trimming, even basic painting stuff would have been appropriate
I agree with the community service that would be a great program. Clay Center makes their inmates (just the one’s that are serving weekends for non-violent crimes or trustees) mow the courthouse lawn, weed, spray, and wash patrol cars. They could also dump all the trash around the square… why should I be the only one..lol