About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 2000)
< « 4 4 J PHOTOS BY BSAn AARON T he devil did most of his architectural work in the 1950s, according to Jim Kunstler, and apparently devoted some of that decade to Athens. Athenians deserve better than schools resem bling "insecticide factories" and decrepit strip malls surrounded by eternal "parking lagoons," Kunstler told the 200-plus cyclists who convened for BikeAthens' first Tour de Sprawl on September 9. Kunstler, author of two books on urban development, was one of half dozen speakers for the event. Joined by two buses full of partici pants. cyclists racked up over 25 miles along the Tour's route, starting and finishing at College Square downtown. Along the way, they heard speeches from experts on green space preserva tion, infill development, water quality and, of course, urban sprawl. "I think a lot of America is into deep denial," said Kunstler, speaking at the corner of Alps Road and Baxter Street. Using a megaphone to be heard over the traffic, Kunstler called sprawl a "calamity of human ecology," and warned against letting Athens' land use plan succumb to the demands of "property rights extremists" who characterize the fight against sprawl as "unpatri otic." "If you're villing to come out to the Tour de Sprawl," Kunstler said, "be sure to go to your Commission meetings too." Charles Carter and John Barrow were the only Athens-Clarke County Commissioners to partici pate in the Tour. If Athens-Clarke is going to preserve rural green space said Laurie Fowler ef UGA's Institute of Ecology, "We're going to have to purchase it, purchase the rights, or zone it." Standing in a lush, green field north of town, Fowler said transferable development rights—a concept largely dismissed by ACC Commissioners—are an effective way to com pensate rural residents faced with large-lot zoning. Garnett Ridge, the third stop on the Tour, is a privately owned low-income housing develop ment north of Athens built off Jefferson River Road in the 1970s. The development is inade quately served by the city, said Barbara Borders Brooks, project coordinator of the Garnett Ridge Family Support Center. Brooks said the lack of bike lanes to the community leaves adolescents there with little to do and nowhere to go. Since city bus service to Garnett Ridge ends early in the evening, to get to their jobs, many residents must either spend a large portion of their incomes on buying and maintaining automobiles oi rely on Athens' limited taxi service. "We encourage people to 'bootleg taxi' because we don't have public transportation for them," Brooks said. Heading back into town, the tour stopped at the Bottleworks on Prince Avenue. A mixed-use project close to downtown and UGA, its the type of development anti-sprawl activists encourage. Developer Smith Wilson said plans for the old Coca-Cola bottling plant include townhouse con dominiums, retail stores, restaurants and office space. "What we envi sioned is a tici(|lifiot hood miter," lie said. Wilson hopes that Bottleworks businesses will atllac t loot and hike tioffir fiom the nearby Cobbham and Boulevard neighbor hoods. He would like to see auto traffic calmed on Prince Avenue to make it safer and more inviting for future Bottleworks residents and patrons. The Tour's final speaker, environmental lawyer and Democratic candidate for Georgia State Senate Doug Haines, spoke of sprawl's impact on Athens' water supply. "Every decision we make has an effect on our water," he said. Haines, who has testified before Congress and drafted legislation on water quality issues, said measures such as wider development buffers along rivers and streams are cheaper than cleaning up water after it is polluted. The ACC Commission is simultaneously dis mantling anti-sprawl provisions and reducing riparian buffers in the county's new development ordinance. Haines said his message is simple: "Clean water is good. It's something we can't live without." Echoing the theme of the day, Haines con cluded, "Sprawl is bad. It's something we can live without." For more information on BikeAthens, go to bikeathens.com, or call chairman Jason Henderson at 425-0868. 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