Half of the antique blocks to be used for walkways along renovated avenue

01/28/99

By Todd Bensman / The Dallas Morning News

Nodding to public sentiment, a neighborhood improvement district has abandoned plans to trash all of McKinney Avenue's historic hand-laid clay bricks during an upcoming renovation project.

Instead, the Uptown Public Improvement District approved a plan Wednesday to save more than half of the popular tourist and residential boulevard's signature antique bricks. They will be cleaned up and used to pave a 2-foot-wide strip of sidewalk along nine blocks of the avenue, 12 pedestrian crosswalks and 11 McKinney Avenue trolley stops, district officials said.

The remaining bricks - the last of their kind in Dallas - may be stored for future use or sold to the public, officials said.

"That meets with one of the initial objectives of this whole effort, which was to preserve the character of McKinney Avenue to the maximum possible extent," said board president Cliff Keheley, also a McKinney Avenue businessman. "There was so much interest in the use of more of the bricks, for both aesthetic and historic reasons."

The board's action on Wednesday followed disclosures last week that the original brick pavement would be torn up and discarded as part of a $5 million street renovation set to begin this spring.

Some residents and merchants who were previously unaware of the project also objected to plans to shut two of the busy thoroughfare's four lanes and divert up to 30,000 vehicles a day through nearby neighborhoods for up to two years.

Supporters say the project is desperately needed to smooth out the aging bumpy road and replace storm and sewer drainage systems. They say pains will be taken to keep open business and apartment building access, as well as trolley service.

The district board, made up of 55 property owners and merchants, met Wednesday to decide what amenities package it will add to the city project, all of which the city council is expected to consider next month. Construction would begin 30 to 60 days later.

The district's amenities package still calls for concrete imitation bricks, colored "McKinney Red" to replace most of the old brick in the street. A gray concrete strip of pavement will replace the brick between the trolley tracks. Tree and lamp wells will be built.

Phil Cobb, the district's chairman and president of the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority, said it just isn't possible to salvage and re-lay the rest because much of the existing brick is of four different sizes or broken.

"It's a form of keeping the faith," Mr. Cobb said of the new compromise package. "We all felt that it was an appropriate use for the historic brick to put it in those areas where pedestrians will touch it, feel it, walk on it."

The new plan pleased some of those who had previously complained.

"They really came across as being supportive of the historical aspects of the street," said Beverly Glenn, a high-rise resident who once fought the city of Cambridge, Mass., over plans to dig up a brick street there and was considering doing the same here. Ms. Glenn attended Wednesday's meeting, at which a lengthy discussion about the bricks emerged.

"I was pleased with the outcome," she said. "It was the best choice."

Jack Irwin, a McKinney Avenue architect and district board member, said he likes the new plan but remains concerned that the unused bricks may still be thrown away.

"I think it's a good idea, and it'll be a great idea when we get the value of the brick," Mr. Irwin said. "We're sort of halfway there. The ideal situation would be to salvage and reuse all of the brick."

Many cities in Texas and throughout the United States routinely salvage and replace old historical bricks that have survived the decades intact.

In Tyler, Texas, for instance, where four old brick streets have been restored by hand in recent years, city officials say standing policy forbids throwing away old brick despite the expense and labor.

"It's kind of the calling card for Tyler, Texas," said city engineer Frank Davis. "It's a chamber of commerce kind of thing."

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