Graham Planning

Welcome to Ultraground - your eyes and ears in the wild world of real estate development.

Estimated read time: 0:02:42

Original meeting time: 2:35:48

On May 17th:

• 13 units in a live/work + townhome bid

• Artist use in downtown

• New flag rules

A new 13-unit / 26 bedroom construction project was approved at the corner of East Elm and N Marshall. 0.65 Acres of business 1 & 2 zoning were rezoned to conditional residential and conditional business.

Some stats on the project:

◦ 1 live / work building:

2 units over 2000sf of ground floor commercial

◦ 3 townhomes

◦ 24 parking spaces:

4 extra spaces for overnight guests

◦ 25-35 ft building height

Above grade

◦ Fiber cement, stone, and masonry

To match the downtown character

Some things that helped it get approved:

• Hiding HVAC with 4-5’ parapets.

• Adding signage and mirrors on the Elm St exit.

• Adding extra parking.

It also helps when a planning board member represents your project as an engineer.

There was a text change on what uses classifies an artist in the downtown Graham area.

Title: “Artist, artisan, or craftsman” including “carver, painter, sculpture, weaver, studio craftsman."

What they do: "Pottery, metalwork, weaving, woodworking, glass blowing, and glass art.”

This is so they can be allowed downtown, next to other commercial buildings.

Private Advertising Flags and Banners

Goal: have as many things in common with Kenny Chesney as possible. One of them being our love for pirate flags. Now you can fly your pirate flag on the streets of Graham.

You can either display 2 private flags or 1 feathered flag per parcel.

What's a private flag?

• Represents a private business organization or group. Or a pirate flag. Or your dog.

Will it affect the 4th of July Parade?

• No. American flags are public flags. Along with anything that represents an official government entity.

There are some new rules that say how they can be attached, how big they can be etc.

• Can't lay flat against building, 9' to bottom of flag, no illumination, no political stuff.

But the real crackdown: no electronic mechanisms. Aka no flailing men outside the car dealership.

As always, thank you for being a part of Ultraground.

How was this report?

Reply to this email and let me know. I personally read all of them.

-Frank