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ATHENS
A Crucial Distinction: In light of questions
that have been raised over whether or not
Selig Enterprises does, in fact, have "vested
rights" (see land use attorney Jamie Baker
Roskie's article on p. 7) to build a develop
ment, under existing zoning code, that could
include a 100,000-square-foot Walmart adja
cent to downtown, the Dope did a little asking
around. Roskie points out that under Georgia
case law, vested rights attach when significant
expenditures have been made by the devel
oper based on "assurances by zoning officials"
regarding the probable issuance of building
permits under existing code. In other words,
a developer is not free to spend $250,000 on
a project based on its own interpretation
of the code, then claim that this expendi
ture gives them vested rights. Athens-Clarke
County Attorney Bill Berryman has expressed
the opinion that vested rights are attached
to this project. But who has given Selig the
required "assurances" that they'll be able to
get permits under existing code?
ACC Planning Director Brad Griffin says no
such assurances have been made by anyone in
his department. Mayor Nancy Denson says she
hasn't made any either, and never would with
out going through Griffin's department, and
through Berryman as well. Berryman makes it
a practice not to debate his legal opinions in
public, and declined to elaborate on this one.
But if Roskie's reading of the case law holds
water—and she's probably the leading expert
on land use law in Athens—then commission
ers may have some leeway to influence how
this development plays out.
Commissioners Kelly Girtz and Mike Hamby
both say they've heard the concerns of citi
zens who object to the size of the space allot
ted the project's "anchor tenant," and would
like to see smaller-square-footage uses in the
development. If vested rights aren't attached,
the commission could step in, say, to place
a square-footage cap on individual retail
uses in the area. They’ll certainly be paying
close attention to the results of a study on
how traffic would be impacted by the cur
rently proposed use, which should be avail
able in the coming weeks. Girtz and District 4
Commissioner Alice Kinman
have exercised their option to place a 90-day
hold on the demolition of eight properties
on the tract that are more than 50 years old;
that's more likely to buy the commission time
to analyze its complete set of options than to
seriously contemplate designating the whole
area a local historic district. It's reasonable
to imagine that commissioners—perhaps a
majority of them—would be willing to con
sider implementing single-use square footage
restrictions in the area, if that option is avail
able to them and that's what their constitu
ents say they want.
This Is Timely: The current draft of a long
underway study of the Oak/Oconee corridor by
ACC planning staff specifically suggests that
the A&D property might be suitable for "an
urban grocery"—and also that "[rjetail and
office uses [could] be limited to 10,000 sq.
ft. per lot, with up to 30,000 sq. ft. permitted
for grocery uses" throughout the corridor.
Obviously, the addition of a 100,000-sq.-ft.
"big box" would seriously compromise the
study's objective of helping steer much-
needed development in the corridor toward
uses that enhance its ability to serve local
residents, rather than allowing it to become
even more of an urban highway than it is now.
Conveniently enough, there's a public meeting
coming up at which citizens will be able to
share their ideas about the future of the corri
dor before the study is complete. The meeting
is 6-8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5 at Oconee Street
United Methodist Church. Go to the Planning
Department page at www.athensclarkecounty.
com for more info, and mark it on your cal
endar—a strong turnout at this event is sure
to help shape commissioners' perspectives on
the issue.
Finally: Flagpole s Kevan Williams and Katie
Goodrum have put together a survey in hopes
of initiating a proactive discussion of how
development in and around downtown should
be envisioned—including on the A&D prop
erty. You can participate by going to www.
kwiksurveys.com/?u=DowntownAthens.
Dave Marr news@flagpole.com
Krazy Korner
Did you hear the one about two persons walking into a bar?
Well, OK, so, actually it’s a multinational corporation and an eight
cell zygocyte. And it’s not a bar, since the blastocyst can't survive
outside the fallopian tubes. And they’re not walking, since nei
ther possesses a neuromuscular system or anything that could be
described as a will or consciousness.
But they are two people, according to Congressman Paul Broun
and Republicans who defend so-called "corporate personhood’’ and who
signed on to Broun’s "Sanctity of Human Life Act” bill. Broun’s bill mimics
almost precisely the Mississippi anti-abortion referendum that was recently defeated,
with both marking personhood at “fertilization, cloning, or its functional equivalent."
Under Broun’s proposed federal legislation, the tiniest two-cell blastocyst following
fertilization would have “all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of
personhood.”
Who isn’t a "person" to far-right Republicans these days? Oh, right: those of us who
aren't corporations or microscopic collections of cells used to exert sexist, theocratic
power. The rest of us are falling into a sort of second-class citizenship to Broun’s more
favored “persons." We’re not quite as human, not quite as important to Broun as his
precious collections of legal paperwork and cells. Once you’re born, you’re on your
own, as far as Broun and many in the GOP are concerned. Infant mortality rates in
our country's poor communities rival that of third world countries. Nearly one in four
American children lives In poverty. And it’s getting worse by the day. Good thing Broun
is focusing on the important stuff. I Matthew Pulver]
MAG Federation Brings
Economic Development
Stakeholders Together
The Athens Growth and Regional Economic
Opportunity Summit—known by the acronym
AGRE0S—was held Nov. 18 at Mount Pleasant
Baptist Church. Organized by the Metro Athens
Growth (MAG) Federation with a mission to
spur growth in Athens-Clarke County and
throughout Northeast Georgia, the summit was
moderated by board member Janice Mathis.
The audience outgrew the conference
room in the church, and was relocated to the
sanctuary with 100 people listening to greet
ings by Mayor Nancy Denson, who announced
the forming of an Economic Development
Leadership Team. Denson also made clear
her support for the inclusion of a Walmart in
a proposed downtown Athens development,
citing the 300 jobs it is supposed to bring.
"Athens is open for business," she said.
Pastor Larry Fort, a MAG board member,
blessed the meeting before giving way to
Dr. Joe Whorton, director of the University
of Georgia's Poverty Initiative and of the
UGA Fanning Institute. Whorton opined that
Athens does not have a comprehensive job
retention and expansion plan and cited stud
ies suggesting that jobs come from existing
community businesses.
The forum's centerpiece was a presentation
by Nancy Whitworth, the economic develop
ment director of Greenville, SC, which received
a Great American Main Street Award from the
National Trust Main Street Center in 2003 for
the revitalization of its downtown. Whitworth
said Greenville leaders figured out what their
assets were and, when something was needed,
went looking for the resources needed and the
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means to bring those into the community.
"The public sector is the spark plug, but
the private sector is the engine," Whitworth
said. She gave example after example: afford
able housing groups partnering with churches
to build houses; focus on entrepreneurs;
partnerships with the automotive industry
and with Clemson University. In Greenville,
Whitworth said, the county develops the
large corporate partnerships, the Chamber of
Commerce works with entrepreneurs, and the
city government focuses on small businesses.
Significant to Athens was Whitworth's
remarking that WalMart wants to place a
store in downtown Greenville. There, she said,
Walmart will have to go through the plan
ning commission and the city council, and
must meet wage criteria to get incentives.
Downtown Greenville serves as a hub for the
community, Whitworth said, and while hun
dreds of millions of dollars have been invested
in downtown renewal there during the past 30
years, the payoff has been seen as a spring
board for revitalizing neighborhoods.
Former ACC Commissioner John Jeffreys,
MAG board member senior Fanning Fellow
emeritus, offered a summation of steps needed
to move from a summit to a plan:
• Collaborative leadership that creates
mutual trust among stakeholders
• Establishment of a comprehensive, com
munity-wide plan for action
• Establishment of inclusive goals
• Elimination of "turf wars," a higher
level of cooperation and a higher level of
coordination
• Agreement on a comprehensive plan
endorsed by all stakeholders in the community
• Remembering that stakeholders in the
community are more important than any one
person or program.
Leara Rhodes
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4 FLAGP0LE.C0M • NOVEMBER 30,2011