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Chris Meyer found himself on the other side of the Urban Design Review Board this week.

One of the more tenacious members of the Covington board charged with determining whether proper design and historic preservation guidelines are being followed, Meyer appeared before the UDRB on Monday afternoon asking for permission to construct a special fence between his new property and a neighbor’s.

His vision? A fence that would not only keep out unwanted trespassers on the vacant lot between the two properties, but would also liven up the 200 block of Pike Street with regular art displays curated by Meyer.

It’s an effort to create what he called “urban continuity”. “From a pedestrian point of view, people will walk a long way as long as there are nice, safe things to look at,” Meyer said. “Those gaps are more than the sum of their parts.”

This particular block has been busy with development over the past year. The Market Lofts are fully leased in a renovated warehouse across the street and next door, Meyer’s brother, Chris, and Marisa McNee are renovating an historic property of their own at 220 Pike. The vacant lot between Meyer’s place at 218 Pike and 214 Pike is the result of a fire that destroyed 216 Pike. Joe Meyer, the former state senator, Secretary of Education & Workforce Development, and the Meyer brothers’ father, owns the lot, though Chris hopes to acquire it at some point.

“I see all this as building on to the other work going on,” he said.

The empty lot has been the site of crime and trespassing for years, Meyer told the UDRB, specifically mentioning one brutal fight that left a man in a coma. As the Meyers work on their respective neighboring properties, the rear will be secured but the side of Chris Meyer’s place would have been left open, unless he put up a fence.

His idea led him to draw up plans that would give him and his neighbor across the lot access to their properties and offer some color to the community. Meyer is an architect who works with the Energy Alliance (and yes, he will be installing solar panels, too) and has lived across the country in San Francisco and said it was “totally unforeseen” that he would return to his native Covington. At one point, Chris was in 2,800 miles away from his brother Dave who lived in DC. Now they are mere steps apart and 1,500 feet from where they grew up in Old Seminary Square.

The UDRB approved the art wall plan which will require a building permit and a review by Planning Development Services, also. The UDRB also approved Meyer’s plans for rear decks, an awning, paint colors (shades of gray), new aluminum windows, 15 solar panels, a roof deck, and the covering of damaged brick with stucco.

The Art Wall will have three separate display areas for artwork. Each display area will be approximately  3’-0” by 5’-0” and will be covered by a 1/8” sheet of acrylic to protect the art from weather and vandalism. The Art Wall includes an overhang to provide further protection from the elements. There will be three LED spotlights to illuminate the art at night. 
 
 
Virtually any 2D artwork will be able to be displayed on the wall. There will be space for the artists’ contact info and description text (if any) for the artwork. Local and regional artists would take preference over historic or out-of-town artists, Meyer said. There is some risk to displaying original artwork, he admitted, offering a good alternative as displaying full-size color replicas of the artwork which can be printed at reprographic companies in Covington. He said he would pay for prints.
 
“I would like to rotate the displays either monthly or quarterly, depending on funding,” Meyer said. He has also applied for a grant to support the art project.
 
“I believe it is worth investing time, energy, and money to do my part to improve public space in Covington,” Meyer wrote in his application to the UDRB. “The quality of our public space matters. It matters to people who live here, people who work here, people who drive through the city, and to people who only know about our city by via our reputation. The public display of artwork is a physical commitment to the people and places in the urban core, and a visual commitment to civic engagement. I would like the artwork to reflect not only who we are as a community, but who we hope to be.
 

It’s a lot of work but a task that Meyer is enjoying. “I like urban living, the excitement of being able to walk to City Hall, to the bar, to the restaurants, to my friends’ houses,” he said. “This is how you build cities.”

Written by Michael Monks, editor & publisher of The River City News