CITY OF TALLAHASSEE
CITY COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED ON: September 23, 2009
SUBJECT/TITLE: Discussion of Old McCrory’s Site Commemorative Sidewalk
TARGET ISSUE: Long Range Community Based Planning

STATEMENT OF ISSUE

This agenda item is a presentation of the Planning Department’s proposal to commemorate the 1960 civil rights sit-ins at the former McCrory’s department store in downtown Tallahassee. Part of the store was located at 220-224 S. Monroe Street, in buildings that would be demolished under a proposed development agreement between the City and the owners of the buildings, the Seminole Tribe of Florida (S.T.O.F.). This agenda item concerns a memorial and historic marker in the public right-of-way, apart from any landscape intended for the S.T.O.F. property. (See Attachment #1) A commemorative sidewalk is proposed in the public right of way along the former McCrory’s storefronts on S. Monroe Street and E. Jefferson Street, including street frontage from the McCrory’s storefronts to the corner of Monroe and Jefferson Streets. The total distance is approximately 300 linear feet.

RECOMMENDED ACTION

1. Direct staff to develop the commemorative sidewalk design, and to provide a final cost estimate and a potential construction schedule.

FISCAL IMPACT

At a minimum, for the planned demolition, the State of Florida requires a historical marker be installed, at a cost of $1,500.00. However, with Commission approval, a commemorative sidewalk design that includes a narrative history text could be installed, at a cost of less than $153,869.00 (to be determined during design of this project), and could be funded from Landscape Fee-In-Lieu Funds with a current balance of $153,869.00) (See Attachment #2).

Wayne Tedder, Director, Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department

Anita Favors Thompson, City Manager

For information, please contact: Dan Donovan, 891-6456

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL/ISSUE ANALYSIS

HISTORY/FACTS & ISSUES

On July 1, 2009, the Commission held the second and final public hearing on a proposed Development Agreement between the City of Tallahassee and Seminole Tribe of Florida (S.T.O.F.) Holdings, Ltd., related to the demolition of two downtown structures owned by the S.T.O.F., located near the intersection of Jefferson Street and South Monroe Street. The buildings had been part of the former McCrory’s department store, a significant site in local and regional civil rights history. Under the Development Agreement, the City and the DIA proposed a temporary easement over the property that would allow the City and the DIA to install landscaping and informative exhibits on the site until S.T.O.F., or its successors in interest, were ready to develop. In exchange, S.T.O.F.'s redevelopment rights, which are time-limited by the Land Development Code, would be preserved for the life of the development agreement, or 10 years. Staff is developing alternative site design treatments for the City Commission’s review. The Commission voted to defer taking action on the proposed development agreement, pending a determination on memorializing the site and how to best address safety concerns, with input from the adjoining property owners. The Commission concurred with providing some type of historic marker recognizing the historic events related to the civil rights movement that had occurred at the site.

• The buildings proposed for demolition, 220, 222, and 224 S. Monroe Street, were part of McCrory’s department store, also known as a dime store.
• McCrory’s also occupied 216 and 218 S. Monroe Street, properties that are not owned by the S.T.O.F. and that will not be demolished.
• At the corner of Monroe and Jefferson Streets, 226 S. Monroe Street is owned by S.T.O.F. and will remain standing; the building was not part of McCrory’s store.
• McCrory’s onetime entrance at 112 E. Jefferson is not owned by the S.T.O.F. and will not be demolished.
  
• Beginning in 1960, sit-ins were held at segregated lunch counters downtown, including McCrory’s, Woolworth’s, and Sears. Demonstrators walked picket lines on the sidewalks. McCrory’s lunch counter was opened to all patrons in 1963.
  
• The store closed in 1975; the buildings were subdivided, and put to other uses. All facades were altered significantly. The buildings deteriorated with vacancy.

None of the properties that once housed the McCrory’s store are listed on the Local Register of Historic Places or on the National Register of Historic Places. In accordance with requirements of the City of Tallahassee/Leon County Natural Features Inventory, the Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources reviewed the S.T.O.F properties that are proposed for demolition for eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, and for possible impact to cultural resources listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In a letter to the City on July 27, 2009 (See attachment #3), the Bureau of Historic Preservation found that because the buildings lack the architectural elements associated with the historically significant McCrory’s Department Store, the buildings do not meet the criteria for listing on the national register, and that the proposed demolition will not affect historic properties. However, since the buildings are locally significant as a backdrop for the Civil Rights Movement in Tallahassee and will be demolished, the Bureau of Historic Preservation requested: 1) a completed Florida Master Site File and photographs (already in progress at the Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation); 2) an informational brochure on the Civil Rights Movement in Tallahassee to be distributed to local history museums and schools; 3) placing a Florida Historical Marker on the adjoining sidewalk to include a narrative commemorating the Civil Rights events that took place at McCrory’s and in the downtown area.

The corner of S. Monroe Street and E. Jefferson Street is prominent in downtown, across from the State Capitol, Tallahassee City Hall, and Leon County Courthouse, and within view of the Florida Viet Nam Veterans’ Memorial and other monuments. 2010 is the fiftieth anniversary of the first lunch counter sit-ins in Tallahassee. Instead of a standard state historical marker, staff proposes that the sidewalk surfaces in the public right-of-way at the corner of S. Monroe Street and E. Jefferson Street, between and including all the former McCrory’s store fronts (216 through 226 S. Monroe Street, and 112 E. Jefferson Street), be used to memorialize the civil rights history that took place there and elsewhere downtown from 1960 through 1963. (See attachment #4, Concept for Downtown Tallahassee.)

The proposed commemorative sidewalk treatment covers an area of 2,650 square feet. The cost of that area of standard terrazzo concrete, permanently cast-in-place, would be about $90,000. The cost of bronze commemorative plaques and artist’s fees would be in addition to that cost. Considerable cost savings can be realized through the use of prefabricated terrazzo panels and bronze commemorative plaques, both made by the FSU Master Craftsman Studio for basically the cost of materials. Panels delivered from the Gaines Street studio would be laid on a concrete setting bed prepared at the site. Panels could be removed and stored or exhibited when future development proceeds on the S.T.O.F. property. Staff continues to develop a design and a cost estimate.

Planning Department staff has developed the idea of a commemorative sidewalk through meetings with citizens and City departments, and research.

Citizens:

Althemese Barnes, Executive Director, and Anthony Dixon PhD, John Gilmore Riley Center/Museum for African American History and Culture Inc., 8/6/2009

• Bob Bischoff, Director, FSU Master Craftsman Studio, 8/11/2009
  
• Peggy Brady, Executive Director, Council on Culture and Arts, 8/11/2009
  
• Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation, 8/20/09
  
• Urban Design Commission, 9/2/2009
  
• Downtown Improvement Authority, 9/14/2009
  
• Rick Barnett, Downtown Alleyway Association, 8/12/2009
  
• Florida Justice Association, 218 S. Monroe Street, 8/12/2009
  
• Steve Kahn, owner, 112 E. Jefferson Street, 8/12/2009
  
• FAMU School of Architecture, 8/31/2009

Mayor, City Commissioners and staff:

Mayor John Marks, 8/10/2009

• Long Range Community Based Target Issues meeting, 8/19/2009
  
• City Manager’s Executive Team, 8/25/2009
  
• Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department, 8/4/2009
  
• Architectural Services, 8/5/2009
  
• Public Works Department, 8/6/2009
  
• Office of the City Attorney, 8/11/2009
  
• Growth Management Department, 8/12/2009
  
• Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Affairs, 8/12/2009
  
• Community Development, 8/12/2009

CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS

N/A

OPTIONS

1. Direct staff to develop the commemorative sidewalk design, and to provide a final cost estimate and a potential construction schedule.

Pros: Would provide a suitable memorial to the civil rights events that took place at the
former McCrory’s department store.

Cons: An expenditure of staff time and City funds.

2. Do not develop the concept for a commemorative sidewalk.

Pros: No expenditure of staff time; State of Florida minimum requirement for demolition is a standard state historic marker at the location ($1,500.00).

Cons: The City pays for the standard state historic marker.

ATTACHMENTS/REFERENCES

1. Location and photographs of existing conditions
2. City Commission Policy 2001 – Administration of Landscape Fee-In-Lieu Funds
3. Letter from the Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation, July 27, 2009
4. Concept for downtown Tallahassee