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Clock tower at Barnet Park draws petitions, 130+ public emails and mixed public comment
Summary
Public commenters at the April 13 City Council meeting expressed both support for and opposition to placing a new clock tower entrance at Barnet Park; petitioners claim 3,000 signatures to preserve the existing tower, while the city reported receiving 137 emails about the proposal and said it will redact personal data before posting.
Several residents urged the Spartanburg City Council on April 13 to preserve the existing clock tower or to reconsider the proposed Barnet Park location, while others said the Barnet Park entrance design would better connect the site to downtown.
Wesley Stathas, a longtime resident, told council members that petitioners had gathered 3,000 signatures asking the city to preserve the current clock tower and said he had been told no alternate sites had been studied. "3,000 signatures on petitions said preserve the clock tower," he said, asking council to consider those views before voting.
City Manager Chris Story told the council the city had collected 137 emails at clocktower@cityofspartanburg.org during a three-week public-input window and that the city planned to post those comments online with personally identifying details redacted. Story also noted the county courthouse property has not been offered or confirmed as an alternative site: "The city doesn't own or control the county courthouse campus," he said, adding he had received no indication from the county that that site is available for the clock tower.
Other public comments described practical concerns or benefits of the Barnet Park proposal. Don Bramlett supported the proposed site but warned that nearby event parking is constrained when Chapman Center and Barnet Park events coincide and urged coordination with the church across the street. Monish Kumar and Bailey Wren supported the Barnet Park entrance and suggested better pedestrian connections and greater use of native plants in the park landscaping.
Council did not take immediate formal action on the clock tower at the meeting; staff said the public-email collection period had closed and that those emails would be made available for council review before any final decision.
The city manager also said staff will redact email addresses and other personally identifying information from the public comments before publishing them online so residents' content is preserved while contact details are protected.
