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CITIZENS BE DAMNED
Very few people have read the new land use
plan. Very many people have trusted their
elected Mayor and Commission to come up with
a plan that protects our jmall city-county from
"bad" growth, from sprawl from
Atlantarization. The greenbelt has become both
the symbol and the reality of this commitment
to "smart" growth.
The government went to the people and
asked, "What kind of community do you want?"
The people responded that we want a commu
nity of tret-canopied neighborhoods centered
or *.^$y-to-reach shopping and entertainment
amenities, one that emphasizes clean air and
water, accessibility and alternative transporta
tion - bicydes, walking, rail, buses - and
minimizes dependence on automobiles
and all the damage that we do with
them.
We weri through a long
process of surveys, consultants,
meetings, maps and public infor
mation - the kind of experience
that includes citizens and builds
trust in government.
The result of that tiresome and
expensive process was the belief that
citizens and government together had
crafted a plan that recognizes the special cir
cumstance* that sustain Athens-Clarke County
and works to protect our community from
forces that can snuft it out and leave it choking
in asphalt and exhaust.
Only at the point where it was time to ratify
the results of the three-year planning process
and adopt the land use plan did the citizens
find out that the Commission didn't mean it r
after all. The greenbelt was the key. Half the
Commission indicated in a straw vote that it
wouldn't go along with protective densities
that would shut out sprawl. The Mayor, who
missed that meeting, has indicated cleanly that
he agrees with that half of the Commission,
and his vote counts when the Commission ties.
Greenbcll is easy to
say, hard to do, as
Charles Floyd has
found out with his
plan to sell his 56
acres, with 60 percent
of it put in a per
petual land trust ease
ment to protect a
woods and open
spaces buffer. (See the
story on p. 6.) Some
of his neighbors
oppose him and want
to prevent this devel
opment of his land,
even though the alter
native is the potential
destruction of all the
trees and open land
and even though his plan incorporates clus
tering to maximize the surrounding green space.
Even before the new land use plan comes to
a vote, we can see how difficult the concept of
a greenbelt is to effect. But from the Mayor and
Commission, all we get is an apparent abandon
ment of the whole idea, rather than leadership
in working through the problems. We started
out with the simple idea that a greenbelt with
a density of no more than one house per 10
acres would protect us from sprawl. That was
watered down at the end to five per acre and
then 2.5 per acre. Now the Commission is
shredding three years worth of work while
Commissioner Ford comes up with a brand new
plan to go back to one house per acre, except
with clustering when water and sewer are avail
able, which they're not in the greenbelt, so
clustering won't really work, except that the
CITY
PAGES
At tfiis most crucial junc
ture in the life of Athens-
Clarke County... citizens
have awakened to the
sickening realization that
our Mayor and
Commission, instead of
being part of the solution,
* are part of the problem.
Mayor says there are some new super septic
tanks that will handle a whole subdivision and
those babies will make the Ford plan work. (If
you don't understand this, see ACC Attorney
DePascale's memorandum on page 7 for "clarifi
cation.")
The greenbelt is the key to the land use
plan and the most difficult part. The Mayor and
Commission seem to be running away from it
rather than trying to figure out how to make it
work. Similarly, the Commission has already
run away from river, stream and tree canopy
protection.
At this most “uoal juncture in the life of
Athens-Clarke County, when we are planning
for a future that is threatened on all sides by
the ills of bad development, citizens have
awakened to the sickening realiza
tion that oui Mayor and
Commission, instead of being part
of the solution, are part of the
problem.
Are our citizens hopelessly
anti-business and anti-growth?
Not when such activities are con
sonant with our vision for what we
want our community to be. Nobody
has protected the Bottleworks develop
ment on Priiice Avenue, which will put mixed-
use housing and commercial space right in the
middle of town. Why? Became the Bottleworks
re-uses existing structures, follows the zoning
and fits the concept of putting people and ser
vices close together instead of far apart con
nected only by automobile.
We can no longer afford elected officials who
don't get it When we vote, we've got to look at
the candidates and try to figure out which ones
support the vision of Athens-Clarke County
that most of us favor, and which ones would
sell it out for bad development.
Some of us can start soon to make our votes
heard. In the November General Election, the
three contested Commission seats offer a clear
________________ choice on these very
issues so vital to our
future.
Jn District 4,
Commissioner John
Barrow faces opposi
tion. John Barrow has
been the most consis
tent smart-growth
champion on the
Commission. The bad
developers will do
everything they can to
defeat him, because
his frequently is a
lone voice against
them.
In District 6, Carl
Jordan is a dedicated,
informed and ener
getic fighter for environmental and community
issues. To replace Commissioner Farmer with
Carl Jordan would be to vote for giving Athens-
Clarke a chance to retain some of the qualities
our citizens have clearly said we want.
In District 8, States McCarter is a tough,
independent man who has felt firsthand the
impact of shoddy development and fought back
through the courts and won. He would make a
no-nonsense Commissioner who wouldn't be in
anybody's pocket.
Things look bad for Athens-Clarke at this
point in the land use plan process. Those who
keep watering it down assure us, "Hey, don't
worry. We can always change it later."
Here's hoping "later" will include
Commissioners attuned to the citizens who
have said so clearly what kind of community
we want. ©
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