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Economic Development
with Oconee Gets Nod
Last week, ACC commissioners agreed to
join forces with Oconee County on economic
development efforts, as recommended by a
task force representing UGA, Athens Tech and
local businesspeople. The Athens area "is
missing out on hundreds if not thousands of
private-sector jobs per year and millions of
dollars in private capital investment," that
group's report said, because efforts to recruit
new businesses have been too "fractured" and
uncoordinated. Instead, there should be a
regional effort with a sin
gle contact point for inter
ested businesses to talk
to, the task force said.
Athens-Clarke County
will commit $150,000 a
year to the joint effort;
Oconee county will likely
do the same, and a 17-member board will
steer the effort (appointed equally by the two
county commissions, but also including Athens'
mayor, the Oconee commission chair, UGA's
President or his appointee, and the chamber of
commerce chairs of the two counties).
Athens Chamber of Commerce President
Doc Eldridge would like to see more money go
into that regional effort, he told Flagpole, but
"it's a start." Perhaps $800,000 is needed, he
estimated. And Eldridge agreed with the task
force report that the effort should be led not
by local governments but by the private sec
tor and perhaps headquartered at the Athens
chamber.
"It's going to take a huge private-sector
effort," Eldridge said. And local businesses will
contribute money to such an effort, he said.
"We know there is the appetite for supporting
economic development in the community, as
long as they're comfortable with the way it's
being done, the way it's structured." But he
added, "They're not going to give it to the
same old way that we've
been doing things in the
past... There's so much
duplication there."
Eldridge added, "You've
got all these different
groups saying they're
doing the same thing...
"but it's just very disjointed... nobody is sell
ing the community... Nobody is waking up in
the morning saying, 'What am I going to do
today to try to attract some new jobs?' It's
really not rocket science."
But one thing the new regional board will
have to decide, said Jim Sikes of Georgia
Power, who served on the task force, is, "What
do we really want? A vision of what this area
will accept and won't accept."
John Huie jphuie@athens.nel
“What do we really want?
A vision of what this
area will accept and
won’t accept.”
New Fees and Fines Aimed
at More Parking Turnover
Downtown parking fees will go up in July—
both the meter fees (which will double to .50
an hour) and ticket fines, which consultants
and the county's own auditor have both said
are too low to discourage parking violations.
"The mission of downtown parking has
always been about turnover," Commissioner
David Lynn said. "You're supposed to free up
that space for other people." He added that
rock-bottom fines encourage people to game
the system. "I think people refer to it as the
S3 lot," he said, pointing out that it's no won
der parking spaces are scarce; it's presently so
cheap to park, even UGA
students park downtown.
In July, those $3 ticket
fees will rise to $10;
other fines will go up,
too. As for employees who
reportedly wipe off the
chalk marks from their tires (in order to get
away with overtime violations), commissioners
wanted to know if that's legal. It isn't, said
parking services director Laura Miller: that's
interfering with an officer, and anyone caught
doing it is warned. "That usually takes care of
the matter, 1 " she said. -
Fees at the courthouse and the College
Avenue decks will also go up, from $1 an hour
to $1.50 (with an $8 a day maximum). But the
first 30 minutes of deck parking will now be
free (and downtown employees will get a 20
percent discount). And meter parking will be
enforced until 7 p.m.—one hour later.
Perhaps eventually meter parking should
extend even later, a couple of commission
ers suggested. "At night, it is very difficult.
That's really the hardest time to park," said
Commissioner Alice Kinman; metering at night
could make it easier to eat out downtown at
night, she said.
Several commissioners said they want
parking rules to be reviewed more often than
they have been in the past; the rates haven't
changed in £5 years.
Kathyrn Lookofsky.of
the Athens Downtown
Development Authority
told Flagpole she hears
both sides of the parking
debate. Some people say
they'll never come downtown again, she said,
because it costs too much to park. "There are
quite a few people who feel that way, so it's a
mixed bag."
This summer, many of the old coin-fed
meters will be replaced by new solar-powered
electronic models that also accept bills and
credit cards and can more easily be pro
grammed for any future rate changes.
John Huie jphuie@athens.net
“The mission of downtown
parking has always been
about turnover.”
A Deck, Offices, Retail:
Coming Soon Downtown
It probably won't be finished until 2011,
but an evaluation committee has picked
the likely builder for the county's ambi
tious mixed-use downtown parking deck. The
project—to be built beside and behind the
Georgia Theatre, filling out the entire block—
could combine commercial offices and street-
level retail spaces with the county's desire
for at least 475 more public parking spaces
downtown. A county-hired consultant received
proposals from four firms that are interested
in building the deck—which will be owned
by Athens-Clarke County while the developer
will own and lease the commercial spaces.
Financial arrangements with the builder are
yet to be negotiated, but the county has $6.7
million in sales-tax money available for a deck
initially expected to be a simpler project.
But integrated public/private partnerships
like the one planned for the deck have worked
well in Greenville, SC and other places, and
have caught the imagination of the commis
sioners. They hope the downtown building will
set a trend for developing part of downtown
and contribute tasteful retail and (perhaps)
some public space.
The consultant—Kirby Glaze—told com
missioners last week that "it was very easy
to come to consensus" on Batson-Cook
Development of Atlanta. The company pro
poses a six-story building, which "looks like
a building, not like a parking deck," Glaze
noted, with ground-level retail along Clayton,
Washington and Lumpkin streets, plus top-
story offices. (A market survey by the devel
oper suggested that office space is more in
demand downtown.) A rooftop courtyard,
parking for 70 bikes and two buses, and a
public art gallery are also included; the deck
would be cast-in-place rather than prefab,
which means lower maintenance costs; and
the brick facade would include "traditional
masonry detailing common throughout
downtown Athens." Glaze cautioned that the
Batson-Cook proposal—dubbed a "conceptual
plan"—is only "a starting point."
John Huie jphuie@athens.net
ACC Gets Serious About
Cutting Energy Expenses
ACC commissioners last year set a goal of
reducing the local government's use of "all
forms of conventional energy resources" i>y
15 percent—but even figuring out how much
electricity the government uses can be com
plicated. For example, the government draws
electricity from some 500 different meters and
accounts, so just looking at old bills ha§ been
a big job, Central Services director David Fluck
told Flagpole.
Last week, commissioners approved a
Florida company—Cost Control Associates—to
search for savings on electricity, gas and tele
phone bills, mostly by finding better rates,
rather than actually reduring energy use. And
the company won't be paid a specific fee,
but will take a percentage (for the first three
years) of any savings to the county that it is
able to negotiate—either through finding bet
ter rates or by discovering billing errors. The
company's audit will also "help us with our
awareness of our energy use," Fluck said. His
department has already gone through old bills
to determine the government's baseline level
of energy use, chosen by commissioners to be
2006.. although Fluck said a current year might
have been easier to calculate: "Getting the
historical data has been difficult."
But Fluck said local government is working
to reduce energy use. Most departments have
appointed one staff member to be an "energy
champion," who reminds people to turn off
lights and conserve heating and cooling.
Office thermostats stay 73 or above in summer
and 74 or below in winter, Fluck said.
"Where people mess with them a lot,
we've put locks on them," Fluck said, though
he added, "I think awareness is a big thing,
and most people want to do what's right."
Studying old bills has allowed departments
to see how much is being spent on electricity
and gas and how to save.
John Huie jphuie@athens.net
6 FLAGPOLE.COM-MARCH 11,2009