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WHAT'S UP IN NEW DEVELOPMENT
Back in September, the Athens Banner-Herald ran a story
entitled "Walmart: No store planned for downtown," effec
tively dispelling rumors that the store was coming to the
Armstrong & Dobbs property on the eastern edge of downtown.
What the story hinged on, though, was a spokesman quoted
only as saying "...I'm not aware of any specific discussions."
In the meantime, concerned community members were thrown
off the scent. Last week, Selig Enterprises of Atlanta, the
development group working on the project, requested a permit
to demolish all the buildings in the project area, many of
which are on the National Register of Historic Places, includ
ing the Jittery Joe's Roaster. That move brings this project out
into the light once and for all.
According to ACC Commissioner Kelly
Girtz, who has met with representatives
of the development team, plans call for
roughly 200,000 square feet of develop
ment, including a 100,000-square-foot
big-box retailer—most likely Walmart—
and about 220 bedrooms worth of resi
dential development. Apparently, this
can all be built by right under existing
zoning, without any chance for citizens
to weigh in. For scale, the size of the
big-box component alone is about twice
as large as the average supermarket.
The project will be highly controver
sial, and the developers know that—
which is why they've moved discreetly,
with the demolition permits being their
first official act. The way the project has
proceeded also raises many more interesting questions about
what exactly the illegal executive session of the Economic
Development Foundation in September means in context.
Mayor Nancy Denson, who has been in conversations with
the developers for a while now, called that illegal meeting, and
now has some explaining to do. Although the "Blue Heron"
river district was itself a controversial notion, it was one that
was being discussed in the public arena, with elected repre
sentatives of the citizenry ultimately driving it. For the mayor
to bring that public discussion to an end, effectively clearing
the way for an obviously controversial private project of which
she has inside knowledge to proceed unscrutinized, is incred
ibly worrying. Does she work for the citizens of Athens who
elected her, or for Selig Enterprises?
Downtown Athens is a gem of independent commerce, rec
ognized nationally, and for a Walmart to be built within spit
ting distance of that should certainly cause alarm, especially
for those involved in the local economic development conver
sation—and more especially for people like current Chamber
of Commerce President and ousted Mayor Doc Eldridge.
However, he took advantage of that illegal EDF meeting to
suggest, during a conversation in which a private development
was being used as the rationale for killing the river district
project, that private investment in the area was unfeasible,
ultimately clearing the way for a business model known for
destroying Main Streets to waltz into downtown Athens._
Doc's remained busy since then, though, and the ink was
barely dry on EDF head Matt Forshee's resignation before
Eldridge began circulating a plan for his Chamber to take over
the EDF. Among other things, the proposal suggests that "it
is anticipated that the EDF would contribute an amount to be
determined to Eldridge's salary, expense and overhead." Many
around town were dissatisfied with the performance of both
the Chamber and EDF already, and if Eldridge's illegal actions in
that meeting have effectively helped open the door to big-box
developers that might outcompete local businesses, he hardly
deserves a raise.
Of course, it's not as if the river district had been the
first opportunity to discuss a plan for downtown that might
have left us with more recourse as a community to discuss
the current project. It jeems as if every recent development
in the area has prompted calls to actually develop a master
plan for downtown, from the Classic Center expansion to the
Washington Street parking deck to 909 Broad and other stu
dent housing projects. Never, though, have our commissioners
felt compelled to prepare for the inevitable.
When this thing comes online—and it looks like developers
are aiming for a spring groundbreaking—what will its conse
quences be? Beyond the questions of what a big box store will
do to the viability of existing local retail in downtown Athens,
there's also the traffic it will create. Oconee Street is already
in rough shape, with only a single eastbound lane and traffic
backing up even in very mild conditions. A development of
this magnitude would likely push the corridor over the edge,
with a ripple effect all over downtown out into surrounding
neighborhoods like Potterytown, Chicopee-Dudley, East Athens
and Carr's Hill, while also further mucking up the traffic at
Lexington Road and the Bypass. There's also the question of
how our adjacent Rail-to-Trail corridor, multi-modal transporta
tion hub and other community investments will be affected.
Further, how will the project itself integrate into the com
munity at a district level? Will this be a logical continuation
of downtown, or a self-contained shopping center? The kind
of retail browsing that makes downtown's network of small
shops work is a fundamentally different business model from
the one-stop-shop big box that the 100,000 square feet figure
suggests. The southeast approach into downtown Athens will
now be entrusted to these developers,
and given that they've made no effort to
involve the community in this project,
it's unlikely that the development will be
representative of our identity and sense
of place, upon which so many other
aspects of our economy hinge.
So, what chance does the community
have to voice its opinion on this proj
ect? The most effective place to begin
may be to start talking about these
historic buildings. This project will wipe
out a large part of our National Register
Warehouse Historic District. The big box
is to be located on the eastern end of
the site, while those historic buildings
are clustered to the northwest. There's
no reason why the retail and residential
spaces that will accompany the big box
component can't reuse these buildings, incorporating them
into a more organic neighborhood fabric that feels like an
extension of downtown, rather than an independent shopping
center plopped into the middle of the city. If the community
wants to start talking about this site, that's the place to start.
Of course, this shouldn't be a referendum on Walmart. The
question is whether or not the community should get a say
in its own future. It's about not being given a chance to put
our values on the table. Maybe a corporate big-box superstore
is a good fit for downtown Athens, and maybe it isn't. That's
a conversation we need to have. None of our elected leaders
have yet shown much interest in that idea, though, and they
seem to be putting a lot of faith in these developers to do the
right thing. If this project turns out all right, we should con
sider ourselves very, very lucky.
Kevan Williams athensrising@flagpole.com
Will an out-of-town developer wipe out a National Register Historic District in order to build a big-box superstore?
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8 FLAGPOLE.COM ■ NOVEMBER 23, 2011
