Newspaper Page Text
rrm city dope
Missing Middle Mixed Messages
HOW COMMITTED ARE COMMISSIONERS TO ALLOWING MORE AFFORDABLE HOUSING?
By Blake Aued and Shelby Israel news@flagpole.com
Athens-Clarke County commissioners are
likely to approve an Oglethorpe Avenue
development that promises to provide
affordable—at least, relatively—housing
in a growing urban setting. They may not
look so favorably, though, on a zoning code
change that could increase the in-town
housing stock.
The proposed development at 1165
Oglethorpe Ave., in front of the Forest
Heights subdivision, would consist of 14
townhouses, six cottages, a quadruplex,
a triplex, an 11-unit apartment building
and 7,200 square feet of commercial space
on 3.85 acres originally slated to become a
doctor’s office that was partially graded but
never built.
Josh Koons, the landscape architect for
the project, called it an example of the type
of higher-density, lower-cost housing that
many commissioners and residents want
to see. “It’s been designed for affordability
in the missing middle housing sector by
streamlining infrastructure, minimizing
car-oriented improvements and using
smaller footprints to increase density,” he
said at the Nov. 15 agenda-setting meeting.
No one mentioned specific prices, but
Joe Polaneczky, a local real estate agent and
one of the developers, said they would be
“noticeably less than what you see in-town.”
Two three-bedroom Forest Heights homes
are currently on the market for over
$300,000, and similar homes can go for
half a million dollars a few blocks away in
Normaltown.
An application to the ACC Planning
Department says the development “is
intended to provide multiple options for
middle income home buyers,” defined as
households making 65%-150% of the area
median income, or about $40,000-$90,000
a year. Five rental and/or for-sale units
would be reserved for people on the lower
end of that spectrum, and seven for seniors
55 and up.
County planners recommended deny
ing the request, with the main sticking
point being the lack of a street connecting
1165 Oglethorpe to Landor Drive behind
it, which Forest Heights residents did not
want. Instead, the new development is
designed around greenspace rather than a
street—which ACC code does not allow—
and a walking path will connect it to Forest
Heights, allowing residents there to access
Seth Hendershot’s planned neighborhood
cafe/pub and a daycare run by local non
profit Destined Inc. on foot. “Why is the
car required for that connectivity?” Koons
asked.
Six planning commissioners, however,
recommended approving the development,
with one abstention. And no county com
missioners objected to it. “This is exactly
the kind of thing we need in this commu
nity,” ACC Commissioner Jesse Houle said.
Commissioner Patrick Davenport had
just one request: “I hope that Hendershot’s
can bring back Ike & Jane.”
Davenport and several other commis
sioners, though, frowned on a proposed
change to the zoning code that could make
building smaller housing units in-town
easier. A proposal from ACC’s inclusion
ary housing working group would allow
accessory dwelling units—or ADUs, also
called in-law suites or granny flats—in
single-family neighborhoods. The 1165
Oglethorpe plan includes garage apart
ments for each of the cottages. That’s
currently illegal, hence one of the waiver
requests.
The change wouldn’t be a cure-all, Houle
said, but it would be a small step toward
solving Athens’ affordable housing crisis.
“Over time, maybe we get to the point
where thoughtful developments don’t need
20 waivers,” Houle said.
The inclusionary housing task force’s
mission is not only to find ways for mid
dle-class artists, musicians, teachers and
others to be able to afford to buy homes
in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods
where they currently rent, but to provide
what’s becoming increasingly rare safe and
affordable housing for lower-income rent
ers, said Alice Kinman, the group’s chair, a
former county commissioner and current
planning commissioner.
The Athens Housing Advocacy Team,
a group formed to organize low-income
renters, recently released a report detailing
substandard conditions at several local
properties purchased by Florida-based
Prosperity Capital Partners, which pushed
out residents by raising their rents and
refusing to accept Section 8 government
vouchers. The group found that many ten
ants still reported pest infestations, mold
and fire hazards despite the increased rents.
In addition, local activists alleged finding
missing smoke alarms and fire extin
guishers while canvassing earlier this year
at the largely Section 8 University Oaks
apartment complex off West Broad Street,
where one building caught fire Friday, Nov.
18, destroying 14 units and displacing 27
people. However, the ACC Fire Department
released a statement Nov. 21 crediting
working smoke alarms with saving resi
dents’ lives.
According to supporters, allowing ADUs
up to 800 square feet is “low-hanging fruit”
for adding to the local housing stock and
relieving upward pressure on rents. “We felt
like this was a good way to bring some gen
tle density into our neighborhoods by mak
ing a relatively small change,” Kinman said.
Skeptics like commissioners Mike
Hamby, Allison Wright and Davenport
raised concerns that loosening regulations
on ADUs would simply lead to more short
term rentals like Airbnbs. “I just don’t see
this option helping us with people sleeping
out here on the steps [of City Hall], people
sleeping in tents, people who are getting
evicted,” Wright said at the Nov. 15 meet
ing. “I think it’s additional luxury in the
backyard of somebody’s house that can
cause the concerns of the traffic and the
parking and the noise that we’ve been hear
ing about.”
Wright and Hamby said the proposal
needs more time for the public to weigh
in, and should be considered alongside
another proposal to regulate short-term
rentals that is currently under discussion by
the commission’s Government Operations
Committee.
Kinman, Houle and Commissioner
Russell Edwards, though, described the
change as relatively minor. ADUs are cur
rently allowed, as long as they don’t have a
220-volt outlet. That means no stoves. Such
stoveless units are fine for short-term use
but unsuitable for long-term renters.
“Guest houses are already allowed. Really
the only thing... they can’t have a stove,”
Kinman said. “I would encourage you to
go on Airbnb and look around. There are a
bunch of units like these already that are
being used as short-term rentals.”
Allowing full kitchens in ADUs would
actually make it more likely that prop
erty owners rent them out to people who
live here rather than visitors, Houle and
Edwards said.
Commissioner Melissa Link proposed a
compromise that would cap ADUs at one
bedroom and add parking requirements,
but it drew no vocal support. “I don’t know
why we wouldn’t want a family to have a
home where their kid can have their own
room,” Edwards said.
Both the Oglethorpe development and
the ADU policy are scheduled for a vote
Tuesday, Dec. 6.
New Housing for
Homeless Students
The Athens Area Habitat for Humanity
and Lydia’s Place dedicated Lydia’s
Homeplace, housing for local college stu
dents who previously experienced home
lessness, in an event earlier this month.
The eight-bedroom quadruplex was ren
ovated in a partnership between Athens
Habitat and the nonprofit Lydia’s Place, and
it is intended to provide homes for college
students who otherwise cannot maintain
residence in a dorm or would have to work
full-time to afford housing, according to a
Nov. 2 press release.
Athens Habitat Executive Director
Spencer Frye said there is a housing crisis in
Athens and across the United States, and it
shocked him that many children in the fos
ter care system no longer have contact with
their foster families once they turn 18. “And
think about when you were 18 and you got
cut loose in the world, which you had this
safety net,” Frye said. “And you sit there,
and you think about, like, somebody who is
all of a sudden cut loose from outside of a
roof, doesn’t have a home to go to, and then
they’re trying to go to college, and they’re
going to work and living in their car, show
ering at [UGA’s Ramsey Center].”
Frye said the project is intended to pro
vide a foothold for those in need, and that
anyone at any time could require a place like
Lydia’s Homeplace. “17-24 is such a piv
otal time in a young person’s life of getting
those foundations built and getting your
financial networks in place and your edu
cation and your professional stuff in place,”
said Kelly Brannen, executive director of
Lydia’s Place. “And when all that is shifting
and, you know, you’re living in your car and
trying to study or trying to finish your GED,
it’s just next to impossible.”
Frye thanked those who supported
and contributed to the project, including
Jade and Graham Joyner of Metal + Petal,
State Farm, ACC Commissioner Melissa
Link, the Rose and Dahlia Garden Club, the
University of Georgia Housing Directors
Association, Gus Vega’s All-Star Painting,
Athens Church and artist Ursula Ann Cole,
who painted the mural on the side of Lydia’s
Homeplace.
“This is a one-of-a-kind partnership,”
Frye said in the press release. “It’s a 100%
local initiative that came about through
conversations with April Farlow of Lydia’s
Place. They had a sponsored dorm room
that was losing funding, and it ended up
that we could provide an entire building for
less than they were paying for one room.”
Earlier this year, the Athens Habitat
received COVID-19 relief funds to con
struct another affordable housing project
in East Athens, Micah’s Creek, which is also
in partnership with Lydia’s Place. Micah’s
Creek will provide additional housing units
for college students experiencing homeless
ness, as well as families with children who
attend Gaines Elementary School, local art
ists and veterans. [Shelby Israel] ©
THIS HSIIIH WSILB
SPARKY, I'VE BEEN GOINS THROUGH
MY ARCHIVE LOOKING FOR OLD
CARTOONS I MIGHT BE ABLE TO
RUN AGAIN IN CASE 1 NEED TO
TAKE TIME OFF—AND THERE JUST
AREN'T THAT MANY.'
by TOM TOMORROW
ALMOST EVERY CARTOON I'VE EVER
DONE WAS ROOTED IN THE MOMENT
IN WHICH IT WAS WRITTEN, WITH
REFERENCES TO SPECIFIC POLITICIANS
AND EVENTS! I NEED To REMEMBER
TO WRITE SOME EVERGREENS
OCCASIONALLY!
WELL, I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU
COULD EVEN DO THAT, IN A TIMELY
POLITICAL CARTOON LIKE THIS. WHICH
REMINDS ME, DID YOU SEE THE
LATEST NEWS STORY!
1
THE ONE ABOUT THE
THING THE PROMINENT
POLITICIAN DID, THAT
EVERYONE IS TALKING
ABOUT?
THAT'S THE ONE! I HAVE TO SAY,
I AM OUTRAGED AND APPALLED
BY THE THING THE POLITICIAN DID,
AND/OR THE WAYS IN WHICH PEOPLE
HAVE RESPONDED!
WELL, YOU ARE KNOWN FOR YOUR
STRONG OPINIONS ABOUT EVENTS
SUCH AS THIS, WHICH ARE OCCURRING
IN THIS CURRENT YEAR IN WHICH
WE AND OUR READERS OBVIOUSLY
ALL RESIDE!
AND THEN THERE'S THE LATEST
MASS SHOOTING.
AH, YES—THE ONE SPECIFIC I
REFERENCE WE CAN MAKE I
THAT WILL NEVER SEEM
OUTDATED.
4
FLAGPOLE.COM ■ NOVEMBER 30, 2022
'ftMoRfaWQlOll*" JOIN SPARKY’S LIST: thismodernworld.com/subscriptions