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Land Use Plan Gutted Al! The Green Going To Developers' Pockets As of this writing, the ACC Commission is scheduled for a September 5 vote on the devel opment ordinance which will back up the land use plan. Over the course of the summer, propo nents of the plan's guiding principles have seen the Commission—under pressure from land owners, landlords, developers, the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce and Realtors horn Athens and beyond—dismantle one provision after another. (See Publisher's Notes, August 9, on-line flagpole.com.) Alfred Rucker, who lives in the woodsy Westgate subdivision off Jefferson Road, is dis tributing green and white yard signs reading "Stay G^een" to residents who are opposed to high rural densities, decreased development buffers on environmentally sensitive areas and weakened clear-cutting and tree canopy regula tions. ^ .• i "What were trying to do is to stop sprlwl everywhere," Rucker says, "and stick to our land use plan that essentially was one house per 10 acres. They're giving away our green space to developers." Since April, the plan's original AR-10 rural zone (one house per 10 acres) has been replaced by an AR-5 (one house per five acres) designa tion. A July 20 Commission work session revealed that only one Commissioner—John Barrow—still supports that plan. Four Commissioners—Tom Chasteen, Ken Jordan, Cardee Kilpatrick and Harry Sims—favor one unit per five acres with clustering, resulting in an average of up to one house per 2.5 acres. A straw poll conducted at the July 20 session showed the rest of the Commission—Charles Carter, Marilyn Farmer, Linda Ford, Hugh Logan and Alvin Sheats—would prefer a one unit per acre designation with no clustering. This option, introduced by Logan, was added to the latest draft of the ordinance on August 3. Dorothy O'Niell, of the neighborhood group Friends of Five Points, sees Logan's proposal as a potential red herring. "The focus on a one unit per acre option with no density bonus may be an extreme position taken by Commissioners to make the one unit per three with bonus seem more acceptable as a compromise," O'Niell says. "But this last is exactly the position greenbelt advocates were working against just a very few months ago." The one house per three acres option, with clustering, would allow an average density of one house per acre, and offers nothing to allay fears of the side effects of suburban sprawl: traffic-clogged streets, air pollution, and a tax base that cannot support its own infrastructure. Obliteration of the greenbelt isn't the only reason citizens should be concerned, says Burt Sparer, former uiban planner and President of the Federation of Neighborhoods and Community Associations. At its ordinance work sessions, open to public view but closed to public com ment, the Commission has already "spot zoned" many parcels around the county. These changes have gone mostly unnoticed by the community, though they will have a direct impact on many neighborhoods. "People whose neighborhoods are affected [need to] know about these changes to have an opportunity to present their views to the Commissioners in the public meetings," Sparer says. For example, the hotly congested site of a proposed west-side Wal-Mart will be re-zoned as commercial when the new development ordi nance passes. Wal-Mart's derision to withdiaw its plan was considered a landmark victory for area neighborhoods. But the Commission rendered that triumph null without as much as a whisper from affected residents. "That would permit another Tug box' like Wal-Mart to locate on that site," Sparer says. "Folks who were opposed to Wal-Mart should know about it." Sparer says commercial development in any form on those 27 acres will "trigger changes" along the rest of the tract, some IOC acres now zoned primarily for apartments. "It's important for people to know about the possibilities of commercial use that the Commissioners are proposing there," says Sparer. Ruth Carpenter has lived in Westgate since 1969. She is participating in the "Stay Green" campaign, but admits she is not optimistic about how things will turn out. "I personally think that certain Commissioners, maybe they're listening but they aren't hearing anything," Carpenter says. "They've already made up their minds." "And it's all with tuis organized real estate group. I think they're very short-sighted. Communities all ovei this country are fighting sprawl, and we're just back in the 70s." Carpenter says site has followed land use closely since the early 1990s, when a group of 400 residents called "Athens-Clarke Tomorrow" formed to study growth in the county over a 20- year span. "The report came out with this group of people saying we don't want sprawl, we don't want to grow beyond our capacity to support the infrastructure. All along it was such a wonderful feeling to think This is the way it's going to go.' And now at the end, it's as though none of it ever happened." The latest draft of the land-use plan regula tions, dated August 1, is now available for review at the Planning Department office (120 W. Dougherty Street), the library (2025 Baxter Street), Kinko's and Bel-Jean copy centers and at athensclarkecounty.com. Anyone interested in posting or distributing "Stay Green" yard signs may reach Alfred Rucker at leaveitgreen@hotmail.com. Brad Aaron Tfie Heart's Eye Gattery ART • LINENS • POTTERY • ANTIQUES -JEWEIRY Closed the rest of August. See you in September. 1680 S. Lumpkin St • 227-3080 (f Dr. Patricia Brawner, Ph.D. Licensed Psychologist Need Help? ■ Most Insurances Accepted • -. * y. * * . v * *. 1 5 r 721S. Miiledge Ave. Athens, GA 30605 s* 9 - 3700 Frontier ...rustic furniture, unusual stationery, natural soaps and scents, uncommon cards, candles, linens, antiques... all in addition to the personal service and warm welcome you’ve come to expect. 142 n. jackson 369-8079 ** ' J J. Flea says thanks ■*! \ W for your support! We gave you a real flea market and you made us Georgia's biggest flea market! 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