Roswell mayor gets OK to build arbor in historic district

The Roswell Historic Preservation Commission has given Mayor Jere Wood the go-ahead to build a 3,920-square-foot arbor on his property inside the city’s historic district.

However, this isn't the end of discussion about the pavilion-like structure, which will be modeled after an arbor built in the 1830s at a Marietta church camp meeting ground.

The commission will talk later about paving on the property, the arbor's distance from the street and whether roll-up canvas walls are proper. But Commission Chairman Richard Hallberg said the conditional approval granted Wednesday night is “the biggest piece” of the planning process.

Wood, acting as a private citizen, wants to build the arbor on two acres at Canton and Woodstock streets, where his law office and his wife’s art gallery stand. He’s cutting the wood himself at his personal sawmill. Wood said he wants to ensure the historical accuracy of the arbor, a structure that is sometimes called a tabernacle or brush arbor.

He first considered using the arbor for assembly purposes, which would require 98 parking spaces under city code. He switched to retail, in part because that usage requires 69 spaces. A variance might cut the number to 56 spaces.

Retail requires walls of some sort, and Wood proposed canvas fabric to comply with the code.

“My intention is to leave it rolled up," he said. "If I didn't have to have it, I wouldn't. ... I’ll roll it down for inspectors and then roll them up.”