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SEUG REALLY IS A DONE DEAL
Russell Edwards and Sanni Baumgartner look sad as it becomes
clear the Selig development will pass. Or maybe Russell just has
something stuck in his teeth.
"Mr. Berryman,"
Commissioner Harry Sims asked
the county attorney Tuesday,
July 2. "What is this all about?"
A good question. Ostensibly,
it was about whether Selig
Enterprises could build 15
ground floor apartments along
Wilkerson Street, rather than
the commercial space the
Athens-Clarke County code
requires. Legally, that was true.
As with many of these zoning
throwdowns, though, it was
about much more than that.
Opponents chafed when
Selig's lawyer, Mike Morris, told
the commission that, "While
it's important to us, (the spe
cial use permit) is not a deal-
breaker. This project is going to
get built."
Morris may have come off as
a bully, but he was right. The
narrow issue of the 15 apart
ments was the only one on the
table.
It didn't have to be that
way. ACC's 2000 comprehensive
plan allows 200 bedrooms per
acre???twice the 990 bedrooms on
more than nine acres Selig is building. Other than a 100-foot
height limit, there's no limit on commercial space (110,000
square feet, in Selig's case), nor is there a limit on parking
(1,475 spaces).
Though architecturally uninspired, the development also
meets ACC's downtown design guidelines, brought to us by out-
of-town consultant Nore Winter and approved in 2006.
The same year, the commission finally created a downtown
historic district. But lo and behold, it only included a core six-
block area???not the historic warehouses off Oconee and East
Broad streets.
When Selig first proposed the development in 2011, com
missioners declined to contest Berryman's interpretation that
Selig had "vested rights" in the Armstrong & Dobbs property???
meaning that ACC couldn't change the rules in the middle of
the game???even though other experts, like the University of
Georgia's Jamie Baker Roskie, disagreed.
Nor would the com
mission change the zon
ing in the eastern part
of downtown to allow 55
bedrooms per acre in 2012,
even though planners said the area didn't have enough water
and sewer capacity for maximum build-out.
At any of those points, we could have put a stop to this
development and others like it, if only we had had the fore
sight to see what was coming.
So, about that Transportation Corridor Concept Map. It's
a map (duh) where ACC officials mark off places where they
might one day want to build roads or trails, so they're pro
tected. As first reported in Flagpole two weeks ago, an old rail
bed called the Belt Line runs through the A&D property and
was intended to serve as a level connection between Firefly
Trail and the UGA campus, bypassing a steep hill.
Blake Aued news@flagpole.com
Commissioner Jerry NeSmith raised a host of policy and pro
cedural questions at the meeting about the rail-trail and the
TCC map, all explained away by Planning Director Brad Griffin
under questioning by Commissioner Andy Herod. Planners said
the specific corridor wasn't protected; only the concept of a
level connection was required.
Commissioner Kelly Girtz worked with Selig to remove
a retaining wall along Firefly Trail, add a shallower ramp
from the rail-trail up into the development and add 10-foot-
wide bike paths and sidewalks, separated from car traffic,
along the Hickory Street extension that will run through the
development.
Girtz's proposal passed by an 8-2 vote July 2, with Jared
Bailey and George Maxwell voting "no." It was as good a deal
as we were going to get. It accomplishes the same things as
a trail along the Belt Line would have???a safe path through
the development for cyclists and pedestrians, and a level con
nection from Firefly Trail to campus. Selig also will have to
come back for approval of the connection's design. NeSmith
even voted for it after Girtz added a clause to his motion
requiring Selig representatives to meet with the RaiLs-to-TraiIs
Committee and the Greenway Commission.
Girtz only released his plan the day before the vote, though,
and speakers at the meeting asked for more time to digest it.
As Russell Edwards, echoing many local
citizens, put it: "Why not wait a little bit?
What's the harm?"
Girtz said he saw his motion as just
a minor tweak to Selig's plan, but Selig
skeptics were right. There wasn't enough
time for the public to weight the ramifica
tions. Delaying the vote for a month would
have inspired a lot more confidence in the
commission's actions.
Even though many felt like they "lost,"
everyone who opposed or critiqued the
Selig development really won. They simply
didn't have the tools to stop it, but the
company substantially improved the plans
because of community feedback.
"The Selig project I looked at 18
months ago bears no resemblance to the
current project," Commissioner Kathy
Hoard said. "I think that has a lot to do
with the people in this room."
Clearly, though, the zoning laws and design guidelines
approved, with input from citizens, by our duly elected rep
resentatives in their infinite wisdom, have some unintended
consequences and need re-evaluating. They're not giving us the
kind of growth downtown that most of the community seems
to want.
So that will be the next big fight. Now, if only we could get
as worked up about actual human beings???the poor, the strug
gling students, people without health care???as we do about a
pile of bricks.
Kelly Girtz is either a traitor to the progressive cause or the
savvy commissioner who won concessions from Selig,
depending on whom you ask.
NOW
Commissioners also didn't
pursue the publicly-funded river
district???intended to head off
more student apartments by
building a research park and
recreational amenities???fast
enough to secure the A&D prop
erty ahead of Selig. Possibly, the
Atlanta developer had the help
of Mayor Nancy Denson, who
kept news of its interest under
her hat for months before tell
ing the Economic Development
Foundation (in an illegally closed
meeting, no less).
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4 FLAGPOLE.COM -JULY 10, 2013