CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Capitol Building Commission approved plans during a Wednesday morning meeting at the Cultural Center to expand the visitor's desk on the first floor of the Capitol building under the rotunda.

The new desk will provide greater access to visitors, including a section with free pamphlets and booklets, as well as creating easier access for handicapped visitors. The expanded desk will not impede entrance to the Journal Room, which holds legislative records.

The commission also unanimously approved plans to place a monument stone in front of an American Elm sapling recently planted near the Governor's Mansion.

The sapling came from the lone "survivor tree" from the April 19, 1995, bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

Now about 5 feet tall, the sapling will eventually grow to be 80 feet tall. Kim Henry, Oklahoma's first lady, recently presented the tree to Gayle Manchin, West Virginia's first lady.

Department of Administration architect Bob Krause discussed progress in the ongoing "master plan" to improve the Capitol grounds.

"We are in the first steps of negotiation on a contract with a firm we have selected. We are still in the research phase and will have a plan drafted by April or May of 2009."

The new plan will focus on landscaping and other improvements around the Capitol campus, as well as on what nearby properties the state could buy to expand the campus area.

"There is a strong historical component to our plans," Krause added, "and we are looking at what were the original landscaping plans by Cass Gilbert," the architect who designed the state Capitol.

Krause said there are many conflicting issues the Building Commission will have to resolve.

For example, Krause said, the "Division of Protective Services wants to look at their own problems, but they don't consider anyone else's problems."

Culture and History Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, who chairs the Building Commission, said he wants to replace a wide platform of red bricks recently installed just above the first 12 steps on the north side of the Capitol.

"Can that platform be replaced with original limestone? We have the opportunity to correct that," Reid-Smith said.

Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 348-51764.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Capitol Building Commission approved plans during a Wednesday morning meeting at the Cultural Center to expand the visitor's desk on the first floor of the Capitol building under the rotunda.

The new desk will provide greater access to visitors, including a section with free pamphlets and booklets, as well as creating easier access for handicapped visitors. The expanded desk will not impede entrance to the Journal Room, which holds legislative records.

The commission also unanimously approved plans to place a monument stone in front of an American Elm sapling recently planted near the Governor's Mansion.

The sapling came from the lone "survivor tree" from the April 19, 1995, bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

Now about 5 feet tall, the sapling will eventually grow to be 80 feet tall. Kim Henry, Oklahoma's first lady, recently presented the tree to Gayle Manchin, West Virginia's first lady.

Department of Administration architect Bob Krause discussed progress in the ongoing "master plan" to improve the Capitol grounds.

"We are in the first steps of negotiation on a contract with a firm we have selected. We are still in the research phase and will have a plan drafted by April or May of 2009."

The new plan will focus on landscaping and other improvements around the Capitol campus, as well as on what nearby properties the state could buy to expand the campus area.

"There is a strong historical component to our plans," Krause added, "and we are looking at what were the original landscaping plans by Cass Gilbert," the architect who designed the state Capitol.

Krause said there are many conflicting issues the Building Commission will have to resolve.

For example, Krause said, the "Division of Protective Services wants to look at their own problems, but they don't consider anyone else's problems."

Culture and History Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, who chairs the Building Commission, said he wants to replace a wide platform of red bricks recently installed just above the first 12 steps on the north side of the Capitol.

"Can that platform be replaced with original limestone? We have the opportunity to correct that," Reid-Smith said.

Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 348-51764.