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“Comp Plan” Update:
Almost Wrapped Up?
New Spay/Neuter Clinic
Up and
Will it provide a new vision of Athens'
future, or amount to just a state-required aca
demic exercise? Whichever it is, local citizens
have put in over 2,000 volunteer hours in
meetings to update the Athens-Clarke County
(ACC) comprehensive iand-use plan, ACC
Planning Director Brad Griffin told commis
sioners at a work session Jan. 8. The update,
required every 10 years, began over two years
ago with an extensive rundown of local facts
and figures compiled by Planning Department
staffers, and followed by numerous meetings
of citizens who each volunteered for one of
eight subcommittees (on economic develop
ment, housing, the environment, land use,
transportation, cultural resources, population
and intergovernmental coordination/' facili
ties). The result is a 47-page document with
numerous recommendations that will go to
ACC Commissioners next month for approval.
But Griffin said he doesn't expect the
impact of the document to match the changes
wought by Athens-Clarke’s complete revision
of its land-use plan in 1999. That revised
plan encouraged in-town development and
the preservation cf a rural "greenbelt," and
the new zoning ordinance adopted the next
year required sidewalks and parking-lot trees
to be installed along with new commercial
developments. In fact, Griffin told Flagpole,
the process of "visioning" ard citizen involve
ment required by the state s Department of
Community Affairs is
mostly intended for
counties that (unlike
Athens-Clarke) have
never taken such a
land-planning approach
before.
Some subcommittee
recommendations were thrown out by Planning
Department staffers, Griffin told commission
ers at the work session. That was because
they didn't seem "doable" within the five-year
timeline for the state to be checking up on
the report, or because ACC Commissioners had
previously rejected them, he said. Suggestions
to the Clarke County School District were also
considered out-of-bounds: "We can't control
what the school district does or doesn't do,"
Griffin told commissioners. But the result is
that many recommendations are very gen
eral, and addressed to no one in particular.
("Promote a public education and aware
ness program in order to further promote
the value of historic preservation," reads a
recommendation that is typical of many.)
The report is available as the "Community
Agenda" on the Planning Department's web
site at www.accplanning.com/comprehensive.
php. Griffin said that staffers who sat in on
the citizen committees were instructed not
to guide the deliberations there, even if they
headed toward conclusions that the Planning
Department would later edit out.
The process left some subcommittee chairs
frustrated, though they've complimented
county staffers for their hard work. Elizabeth
Little, who chaired the environment subcom
mittee, hated to see the weakening of sug
gestions for innovative ways of dealing with
stormwater.
"I was able to keep a lot of stuff in there,"
she told Flagpole in December. "It was a little
confusing, but I think it's because it was a
whole new way of doing it... the whole idea
that they took it away, and Planning edited
it, makes it look like it was done in a back
room." Even if none of it actually was done in
a back room, other committee chairs agree the
process to date could have been smoother. The
original schedule provided for review of of the
recommendations by the subcommittee chairs
before the document went to commissioners,
but that apparently hasn't happened.
By the time the document went to the
ACC Planning Commission for further edit
ing, it was already "basically unrecogniz
able to me," complained Rachel Sleppy, who
chaired the cultural resources subcommittee,
in a letter she distributed to a Federation of
Neighborhoods forum on the plan last week.
She wrote that at one Planning Commission
meeting on the topic, "many of us spoke up
and pointed out that we were dissatisfied with
the final draft, and asked to please be given
an actual work session to discuss these mat
ters." But the Planning Commission decided
simply to note in the document where its final
version disagreed with the views of subcom
mittee chairs, and to include both versions.
The Planning Commission's version elimi
nated several references to global climate
change, and squelched a controversial sugges
tion to add "potentially
historic plant materials"
to historic preserva
tion requirements. Also
removed: references
to "insufficient water
available to existing
homes, institutions and
industry" and a suggestion for more reservoirs.
Planning Commissioners didn't think it was
their business, either, to encourage banks to
offer "location-specific mortgages" along bus
lines, and removed a suggestion for educating
people on septic tank maintenance (though
ACC Commissioners may restore it). A number
of the report's remaining recommendations are
already under consideration or headed toward
implementation by the ACC government.
Griffin said the land-use plan is routinely
referred to when land-use decisions are being
considered. "It's really the broad-brush basis
for all the reports that we write, and all of the
developments that we look at," in addition
to amendments to land-use ordinances, he
told commissioners. But he emphasized that
the update in itself won't make any changes
in current zoning. One change being looked
at, however, could mean moving toward lower
"rural residential" density for certain areas in .
the greenbelt that are zoned for single-family
home development. That would allow a more
subtle transition between suburban and rural
zones, planner Lara Mathes told Flagpole.
At press time, because of subcommit
tee chairs' concerns, Athens Grow Green was
encouraging its members to lobby the Mayor
and Commission for a postponement of their
vote on the plan (scheduled for Feb. 5).
John Huia (phuie@athens.net
Johnny Cooper loved the sweet ab- r
cat that had taken up residence on his front
porch last year, but not enough to pay a few
hundred dollars to get him "fixed" at a veteri
narian's office. After researching his options,
Cooper discovered the Athens Area Humane
Society's new spay/neuter clinic. For only $55,
he could now pay for his newly adopted cat's
surgery and shots—with much-needed cash
left over during the holidays.
"The price just blew me away, so I sched
uled the surgery," says Cooper, a fuel truck
dispatcher for Golden Pantry. "I'm just so
thankful that they opened that place up
because I wasn't going to get him fixed for a
while otherwise."
Crystal Schultz,
Executive Director
of the Athens Area
Humane Society
(AAHS), says the new
clinic was created
in response to calls
from pet owners like
Cooper seeking alter
natives to expensive
prices from veterinar
ians. Services at the
clinic range from $35
to $65, and shots are
typically $10 each.
Cooper even donated
extra money to the
center because, he
says, "it was so ridic
ulously cheap!"
"It's so great and
inexpensive that I've
recommended them to
anybody with pets,"
Cooper adds.
More than 400 cats
and dogs have visited
the spay/neuter center since its opening on
Nov. 19 of last year, and all of the surgeries
have gone well. "We offer the same quality
as a vet," says Schultz. "And we always keep
animals overnight to give them enough time
to heal and give them a chance to begin
recovering."
The clinic operates Monday through
Thursday and can accommodate up to 160 ani
mals weekly. Schultz says that once the center
routinely performs the maximum number of
surgeries per day, it will take on a second vet
to assist Dr. William Mangham, who currently
Ruimm
performs all of the surgeries at the clinic.
"Being able to spay or neuter so many animals
per week would do wonders for our overall
animal intake," she says.
Rachel Michaud, AAHS Assistant Directo r ,
attributes the early success o' the center to a
well-trained staff and specialized service. "By
specializing in spaying and neutering, we're
able to really focus on our task. Dr. Mangham
is an expert," she says. Michaud adds that
the center does not require pet owners to be
Clarke County residents, as many shelters do.
The spay and neuter clinic also offers a
unique service for pet owners: a transport van.
If a group of people gets together, a vehicle
from the clinic can
pick up all their ani
mals. "We have tried
to make it as easy as
possible to get your
animals here," Schultz
says. "When you're
dealing with low
income, you're prob
ably talking about
transportation prob
lems, too."
Along with the
success of the new
spay and neuter
clinic, AAHS recently
celebrated a mile
stone in 2007. More
than 500 cats and
other small animals
were placed in new
homes, a 40-percent
increase from the
previous year. "This
is a milestone that
we never dreamed
we could achieve in
such a short amount
of time," says Michaud. Helped in large part
by its having opened a new adoption outreach
center in spring 2007, AAHS has lowered its
number of euthanized animals by 39 percent.
As it enters into the new year, Schultz says
the clinic is searching for volunteers to orga
nize transports to and from the center, and
is preparing to launch a marketing campaign.
"Right now we're just trying to get the word
out about the center," says Schultz. "We really
just want to be an asset to this community."
Elyse Beasley
The process left some committee
chairs frustrated, though they’ve
complimented county staffers
for their hard work.
The cat may not have enjoyed "getting fixed,” but
thanks to the Athens Area Humane Society’s new
Spay/Neuter Clinic, Johnny Cooper (pictured with his
daughter Dallas) didn't have to worry about breaking
the bank to get the surgery done.
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