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SALON, INC.
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706-548-2188
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285 \V. Washington Street
Athens, Georgia 50601
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ATHENS
NEWS AND
V EWS
A&E
NEWS & FEATURES I CALENDAR I MOVIES
MUSIC I COMICS & ADVICE I CLASSIFIEDS
JANUARY 16, 2008 • FLAGP0LE.COM
Keeping A Secret: Is Athens 'the world's best
place to live, work and retire?" Erriny on the
side of humility, the ACC Planning Commission
changed that wording (composed by a com
mittee updating the ACC land-use plan—see
story in City Pages) to merely say Athens is
"a great place" to live, work and retire. That
made for some hurt feelings, ACC Planning
DPector Brad Griffin said at a Federation of
Neighborhoods forum last week. Thoughts
from the wider citizenry? [John Huie]
About That Land-Use Plan: Athens-Clarke's
elaborate application process for building a
"conservation subdivision" in the rural "agri
cultural-residential" zone has yet to be used.
Builders are allowed higher density (averag
ing one house per five acres) if they preserve
half the land as open space. But there are
considerable up-front costs with no guarantee
of approval. A builder must map (but not nec
essarily protect) many natural and historical
features of the land as
part of the application £
process. "I don't think 5
anybody's going to go i
through that process p
at that low a density,"
landscape architect
Rex Gonnsen told ACC
Commissioners in 2003
when the rules were
adopted. So far, he's
been right. [JH]
Open Up: Props are
in order for Oconee
Cour.tian Lee Becker,
who seems to have
caught his county
commission's chair
man, Melvin Davis, in a
run-around of Georgia's
open meetings law.
At issue is a Board of
Commissioners retreat
held in Madison last
month, which Becker
argues was not suf
ficiently advertised
to the public. Rather than run through the
details here, suffice it to say that Becker has a
thorough recounting of this story on his blog
at www.oconeecountyobservations.blogspot.
com. To his credit, Davis posted an apology
and response—also thorough, document-wise,
but perhaps not ultimately satisfactory—on
the county's website at www.oconeecounty.
com (under "What's New" on the homepage).
At the end of the day, what's at stake
in Oconee County is control over how the
county grows. Whether water and sewer plan
ning or the question of beer and wine s^les—
to take two contentious issues wrapped up in
the Becker-Davis fight—the issues at play now
could change a fast-growing county forever.
Seen-around-town: the “Mantra Trailer”—on an
artsy road trip out of Durham, NC—parked on
College Square one day last week. If you walked by
but were afraid to step inside and record a mantra
for posterity, no worries: you can catch up online
at http://mantratrailer.com.
On the Beach: Speaking of public battles
between middle-aged white guys, brave state
Senator Jeff Chapman (R-Brunswick) early this
month put out a resolution about "the future
of Jekytl Island" for Georgians at large to
consider signing, in order to, as he says, "pro
vide a tangible means of showing where public
opinion stands on the issue." Read it on his
website at www.jeffchapman.us. Meanwhile,
Jim Langford of would-be-Jekyll-developers
Linger Longer Communities, Inc.—the folks
who brought Reynolds Plantation to our part
of the state—has responded in Kind with
newspaper columns pointing folks to a com
peting resolution at his company's website,
.vww.rediscoverjekyll.com. In other words,
the uphill battle to save a state park from big
development interests who'd like to control it
is far from over. Kudos to Sen. Chapman for
sticking with the fight.
Remember This One?: It had been a while
since the proposed Interstate 3—you know,
the one that would blast through the moun
tains on its way from Savannah to Knoxville—
had been in the news, and you might have
even been forgiven if you had figured 1-3
for dying a slow death, but the start cf the
year brought news that our Congressman, Paul
Broun, has been feeling out a change to I-3's
route that would push part of the road into
South Carolina and keep it out of Georgia's
mountains. Funny thing: all the news reports
agree that Broun opposed the road when he
was campaigning; now
here he comes imply
ing that with a detour
it might not be so bad
after all. At least the
environmentalists and
mountain-lovers of
the Stop 1-3 Coalition
aren't fooled.
Dogwoods Forever:
It's good to he^r that
some of the good
ideas that started with
the 2004 Community
Approach to Planning
Prince Avenue, or
CAPPA, are still slowly
but surely coming to
fruition. Add to the list
"Planting Prince," a
collaboration between
the Community
Tree Council, the
Historic Boulevard
Neighborhood
Association and many
others to maintain
and replant the dogwoods which have histori
cally lined Prince Avenue. And don't worry,
Boulevard leader Tony Eubanks says: new
plantings will be watered only with county-
harvested rainwater, and dogwoods are rela
tively drought-resistant anyway. That aside,
can't every major street in town have its own
tree? 'Cause that would be pretty cool.
Sad News: On Jan. 11, police divers found
the body of Cayle Bywater in the pond at
Memorial Park. The 29-year-old Athens resi
dent had been missing from her nearby South
Milledge Avenue home since Dec. 29. Police
had dredged the pond earlier in their search
for Bywater, but later brought in dives from
the Hall County Sheriff's Office. Police deter
mined the "preliminary cause of death" to be
drowning, according to a press release of last
weekend, which also said foul play was not
yet suspected. The investigation is ongoing
and anyone with information on Bywater is
encouraged to contact Detective Dustin Smith
(706-613-3888, ext. 795) or GBI Special Agent
Rebecca Shaw (1-800-597-8477).
Oen Emanuel
Send your city dope to ben@flagpolc.com
SINCE 1977
Eastslde (College Station)
DOWntOWII (across from Arch)
MIHtign Ave. (at Prince Ave.)
Coming Soon: Watklnsville (at Butler's Crossing)
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