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DAN LORENTZ
saiemsiMig
WHATS UP IN NEW DEVELOPMENT
Terra Incognita: If RaceTrac hadn't proposed
to build one of its sprawling gas station/con
venience stores on West Broad Street near
Colima Avenue—and if the proposal hadn't
triggered opposition among area residents and
been debated (and finally rejected) by ACC
commissioners—it might have been a long
time before I explored the rectangle-shaped
neighborhood that's sandwiched between
Broad and Baxter streets and book-ended by
Alps Road and Milledge Avenue.
While it's hardly news to the people who
live there or to the people involved with the
many developments there, this neighborhood
is vital and surprisingly walkable. It's got
some problems, too, of course. And it poses a
tough question.
Neighborhood Riches: You can get a feel for
the walkable riches of this area by typing the
addresses of neighborhood homes into Walk
Score, an online walkability calculator. Take
a look at the map that gets generated. It
shows how the neighborhood is ringed—on
Broad, Baxter and Alps—with restaurants,
shops, a major grocery store (Kroger, on Alps),
a hospital (St. Mary's), a shopping center
(Beechwood) and other amenities. The neigh
borhood has its share of churches, too.
"That's what people like about living in
this neighborhood," neighborhood resident
and Commissioner George Maxwell tells me.
"You've got people that live, say, for instance,
on Magnolia Street and Magnolia Terrace that
don't even own a car because it's so conve
nient to Alps Road. They walk to the Kroger
store. They cross the street to the shopping
center. They are able to walk, if they need to,
to the hospital."
Or take a look at a regular city map,
and you'll see nearby schools (Alps Road
Elementary School Clarke Middle School and
Clarke Central High School). ACCs main library
is close. According to Maxwell, "There's a say
ing about this neighborhood: a child can be
bom and when they get to school-age, they
can go from elementary school all the way
through college [if you expand the neighbor
hood boundary a bit further east to Lumpkin
Street] without ever having to leave the
neighborhood."
A Lot Going On: The neighborhood is com
prised mainly of single-family homes. There
are some blighted properties, but for the
most part, the small homes are well kept The
streets are narrow and charming. There are
lots of mature trees and greenery. Many of the
residents are home-owning African-American
senior citizens living on fixed incomes. It has
a quiet ambience, but there's a lot going on in
the neighborhood.
The biggest project right now is the con
struction of Clarke County School District's
new H.T. Edwards campus on Dealing
Extension. The project includes building reno
vations and new construction to house a new
high school for non-traditional students, an
alternative school for students with disciplin
ary problems, a career academy and a Boys
and Girls Club.
Athens Land Trust has rehabilitated several
homes in the neighborhood, including ones
on Colima, Rocksprings and Waddell. Athene
Area Habitat for Humanity also has projects
underway.
t
Walkability Improvements: Right now. Broad
Street—the neighborhood's top boundary—is
an intimidating seven-lane highway that
effectively prohibits pedestrian access to a"d
from the northern half of town. What's needed
is a plan to narrow the road, add pedestrian
crossings, bike lanes and a tree-lined median.
This portion of Broad is state-
managed, which complicates
things, but connecting this neigh
borhood at a pedestrian level with
the rest of Athens is key.
While the neighborhood
doesn't lack sidewalks altogether,
they are few and far between. In
many cases, it's hard to see where
they might be installed but where
they can, they should be. On
some streets, such as Magnolia,
which serves as a cut-through
from Broad to Baxter, pedestrians
could use a little extra help feel
ing safe. Some traffic calming
measures might be called for.
And there's one more improve
ment worth considering: Rezoning
parts of the neighborhood—on Broad and
Baxter, for example, and possibly within the
interior as well—tc allow for greater residen
tial density. That would enable many more
people to benefit from the walkable conve
niences of this area.
Walkability-Gentrification?: This last sugges
tion, as Commissioner Maxwell politely but
forcefully informed me, is not a new one. In
2000, a plan to rezone much of this neigh
borhood from single-family to multi-family
sparked intense opposition.
That's easy to understand. As Maxwell
put it the rezoning to multi-family "[W]ould
have pushed a lot of senior citizens, living on
Social Security, out of their homes as property
taxes increased' and effectively destroyed a
well-functioning low-income neighborhood.
This is true, of course. And it's why I think
Athens made the right choice in 2000. But
it's also frustrating because creating and
strengthening walkable neighborhoods gener
ates more tax revenues, reduces transportation
costs, enlivens communities and improves
health—benefits that everyone, including low-
income people, should be able to enjoy. -
The tough question that this neighborhood
poses for Athens is: How can we make room
for more people to live in truly walkable in-
town neighborhoods that remain affordable
to low-income residents?
In my next column, I'll explore some pos
sible answers to that question. -
Dan Lorantz aftensrisingQftagpote.com
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