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WHAT'S UP IN NEW DEVELOPMENT
Marshaling Forces: "...The success of the Research Triangle,
of Silicon Valley, of Boston and Austin—does not happen by
accident," UGA President Michael Adams told the local Rotary
Club in January. "There were conscious decisions in those areas
decades ago to capitalize on the nexus of intellectual prowess
amassed on the campuses in those areas. Are we ready to do
the same in Athens and Georgia? I hope so."
Adams talked a lot about economic development during his
speech. What he didn't get into, though, were the practicalities
of how to achieve that sort of vision here. It's going to take a
lot of cooperation across a lot of different lines if such a future
is ever to come to pass. No county, university or other com
munity is an island.
So, where are the opportunities for partnership in eco
nomic development? Starting with ACC and UGA, we must first
recognize how intertwined these two independent entities are.
That level of intertwining is going to be preserved, even as the
state budget axe continues to swing in the direction of higher
education. If the university is going to continue its growth and
develop its reputation as a top-tier research institute, it will
have to explore new models for what a campus is.
Potential Nexuses: The Project Blue Heron
river district proposal being pushed for
ward by the ACC Economic Development
Foundation is a logical point to begin a
meaningful partnership. The university
and the city both have a lot of land and
resources invested in that river corridor,
and so cooperating in a way that fosters
integration and creates a hybrid sort of
district only makes sense. That men
tal wrought-iron fence between town
and gown must be blurred for an urban
research environment to emerge here that
resembles those others that Adams cited.
In addition to the river, the university
and the city should be looking at how to
capitalize on the burgeo.. -g bio-medical
community in the western part of town.
The new med school will be the center-
piece, along with two major hospitals.
The question is whether Athens and the
university can come up with a cohesive
strategy to tie everything that's hap
pening there together into a meaningful
economic engine. Scattershot development is not the way, but
a unified medical district surrounding those major resources
could gain a national or international reputation and possibly
secondarily attract some of those vaccine factories that some
of the smoke-stack chasing economic development crowd have
been longing for.
Zooming Out: A proposed economic development partnership
between Oconee County and ACC unraveled a year or jO back,
but perhaps we ought to be considering how our partnerships
relate to that goal of regional, university-affiliated economic
development. Oconee's proximity still makes it a logical part
ner, but perhaps we should consider other neighbors: Jackson
• County seems like a good candidate to start with for a con
temporary regional economic development strategy.
Besides US-441 and US-129 linking Athens to Jackson
County and 1-85, there are also a couple of rail lines to round
out the traditional infrastructure. The other interesting rela
tionship between the two counties is ecological. The Middle
and North Oconee rivers flow through both, intertwining them
more than any road ever could. Water is the limiting factor
to any community's growth, and so a strategy for coopera
tion that recognizes that hydrologic kinship may make a lot
of sense. Tensions are already high concerning the subject,
with a lawsuit over the city of Jefferson's share of Bear Creek
Reservoir's water ruffling regional feathers.
Working together to manage such a sensitive resource, not
only on the supply side, but on the demand side as well (with
industrial users being such heavy consumers of municipal
water) could help to avoid future conflicts like that lawsuit.
Already, Jackson County and Athens-Clarke County's com
prehensive plans align fairly well, with mutually support
ing agricultural belt areas. How can other growth goals and
strategies, such as those for housing and transportation, be
pulled together in a similar fashion?
Making Regional Local: T-SPLOST, a 12-county list of regional
projects, will be up for an all-or-nothing referendum in 2012,
and will require some PhD-level political calculus if it is to
pass. Rural and suburban road projects must be balanced with
voter-rich Athens' desires for urban necessities like transit
and bicycle infrastructure in a way that offends neither demo
graphic. The 10-year program will raise approximately $1.2
billion, with 50-70 percent going to roads specifically,
according to the Northeast Georgia Regional Transportation
Roundtable, tasked with selecting the projects.
Rather than writing off the roads request, perhaps Athens
should look at how its major arterial streets, many of which
are also the spokes leading to surrounding counties, could be
made to function better for both local and commuter traffic (of
all transportation modes). A "Complete Streets"-style approach
for major corridors like Prince, North, West Broad, Oconee and
Hawthorne could come to resemble Epps Bridge Parkway. Tree-
lined medians, bike lanes, bus bays and on-street parking,
employed as part of a unified strategy, would accomplish
local urban goals while clearing up key chokepoints into and
out of the community.
Hawthorne is an especially cricical piece of infrastructure-
linking our two major hospitals and future medical school—
and an interesting case study. Beyond solving its problems
in terms of traffic movement, we should also be looking at
how roads are the armature upon which future economic
development will rest. In the case of urban edge districts
like Hawthorne, new local streets around regional economic
magnets will allow for a more effective concentration of jobs,
buoying the economy of the entire region.
Getting Started: Dialing back in on the local, if we were to
look at one transit project for the region, it would be the
potential for streetcar or light rail service along the rail line
from downtown and the proposed river district through the
university campus. Such a project could truly bind together the
major regional engines into a particularly attractive research
district for companies that might move into the Athens area.
While UGA can't weigh in particularly heavily on the T-SPLOST
process, developing a transit strategy with Athens that rein
forces its research ambitions makes a lot of sense.
Whether it's town-gown or regional relations, grounding
those efforts in real common interests rather than convenience
or proximity makes a lot of sense. Further, when regional
economic development is grounded in what we all rely on in
common, whether ecological or manmade infrastructure, we
may find solutions that aren't based on that zero-sum game
model which has so far clouded conversations between Athens
and its neighbors.
Kevan Williams athensrising@flagpole.com
Our rivers have always been the limiting resource in regional growth and industry. How can con
temporary economic development efforts better reflect that fact?
8 FLAGPOLE.COM • FEBRUARY 9,2011
KEVAN WILLIAMS
