Graham Parking Lot Closed for Soil Testing Ahead of New Park

The city of Graham spent $58,500 resurfacing a downtown parking lot in the 2023-24 fiscal year. Two years later, that same lot on the 100 block of North Maple Street at West Elm Street was barricaded for soil sampling, an early and disruptive step toward converting it into a new park.

Julie Harrison, manager of the adjacent Roasted Coffee Depot, said the city gave her business "no notice whatsoever" before crews restricted access to the lot. The coffee shop cut its operating hours in response, a direct financial consequence for a small business that depends on the roughly 25 two-hour parking spaces the lot provides to downtown customers.

Graham assistant city manager Aaron Holland confirmed that environmental consulting firm Terracon requested the barricades remain in place while sampling was underway. Testing began Tuesday and extended through Wednesday.

The results of that sampling will determine whether the project moves quickly or stalls. Soil contamination from prior land uses, buried infrastructure, or unstable ground conditions could trigger remediation requirements, additional regulatory approvals, and higher project costs, all of which would need to be funded before construction on the proposed park at 129 West Elm Street could begin. Clean results, by contrast, could allow design approvals to advance on a faster schedule.

The Graham City Council set the process in motion with a 3-2 vote at a special meeting on Feb. 17, approving a contract with Stewart, a Raleigh-based engineering and architectural firm, to develop a conceptual design. The plan would also remove Sesquicentennial Park from the northwest corner of Court Square, consolidating green space onto the West Elm site. No permanent closure date for the lot has been announced.

The city has not publicly identified a funding source for remediation if Terracon's samples indicate contamination, and no formal public hearing or construction timeline has been scheduled. Those specifics, along with advance notice to neighboring businesses, are the outstanding details downtown stakeholders are still waiting on as the Stewart design process moves forward.