About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 24, 2025)
DECEMBER 24, 2025 & DECEMBER 31, 2025 ■ FLAGPOLE.COM 5 news • city dope Welcome to the Hotel Boulevardia PLUS, LOITERING LAWS, TSPLOST AND MORE LOCAL NEWS By Blake Aued and Rebecca McCarthy news@flagpole.com A new plan for a smaller hotel behind the former UGA President’s House has been introduced by Gainesville, GA-based Cap- stone Property Group, but some neighbors say it’s still too large for the location. In the latest version, the Graduate- branded Hilton behind the 170-year-old house on Prince Avenue—put up for sale by the Board of Regents in 2023—would be half the size of the initial proposal, at 38,500 square feet, and include about 70 rooms. The building would also be moved further back on the five-acre lot, and sur face parking would replace underground parking. “These plans are responsive to reason able requests from neighbors and commu nity leaders, and still allow us to preserve and maintain the historic president’s house, and create an exciting new lodging oppor tunity in Athens,” Jeff Payne, president of Capstone, said in a news release. “We have reduced the size of the new structure by half, and will not be doing underground parking, which will eliminate the need for any extensive excavation.” Keep Athens Local, a group formed to oppose the project, called the new proposal an improvement, but noted that it is still much larger than the 10,000 square feet allowed under Athens-Clarke County’s commercial-neighborhood zoning. “It’s not just the size and scale that raise concerns, it’s the parking, congestion and traffic, outdoor event space, noise, lighting and other nuisances that will come with a hotel and restaurant of this size that will impact neighborhood residents, sur rounding streets, traffic flow and safety on Prince Avenue,” Keep Athens Local said in a statement. “While these issues are dis cussed in the proposal and press releases by Capstone, the real impacts are downplayed while neighbors end up paying the price for generations to come.” The preservation group Historic Athens had outlined six areas where the previous plan could be improved and asked for a smaller-scale building, no blasting for underground parking, protection ease ments for the formal gardens and the exterior and interior of the main house, neighborhood protections, an archaeolog ical study and interpretive displays of the site’s history. Historic Athens is now accept ing feedback on the latest proposal. The Athens-Clarke County Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the new plan Jan. 8. [Blake Aued] Tweaked Law Targets Homeless The Athens-Clarke County Commission will vote next month on tweaks to a local law aimed at keeping homeless people from blocking sidewalks and access to businesses. The proposal would change language in the county code to prohibit “interference with sidewalks, streets and other public areas,” including highway overpasses and entrances to businesses. Police could issue citations after an initial warning. The rewritten ordinance contains excep tions for medical emergencies, children, wheelchairs, waiting in line and other cir cumstances. “No one under this ordinance is going to get a citation for hanging out in front of a store talking to their friends,” Commissioner Carol Myers said. The recommendations came from an ad hoc committee appointed by Mayor Kelly Girtz in September that included Myers and commissioners Patrick Davenport and Dexter Fisher. “We can’t keep going down this road where people are literally sleeping in front of businesses,” Fisher said. “It affects their livelihood.” The definition of “interference” would include storage of personal property, in addition to bodily blocking the public right- of-way. Such property could be considered abandoned and confiscated after 24 hours. The Athens Homeless Coalition has put forward a proposal for some sort of storage area so that “people have an opportunity to put their stuff somewhere so it’s not inter fering with someone else, but also so people have an opportunity to do what they need to do, take care of appointments, whatever issues they have, without having to lug around their belongings,” Myers said. Davenport warned that, with the ordi nance changes, “we are essentially crimi nalizing homeless people,” although he also said he would vote in favor of them. TSPLOST: Commissioners also discussed an upcoming vote on a project list for a trans portation sales tax referendum in May, indicating they could add a few projects. Davenport said he would be working on those changes during the holiday break. “I’m real concerned about us not having any greenway money on here,” Commis sioner Melissa Link said. “I don’t believe District 2 really got anything.” The commission already set aside $140 million for routine expenses like road paving and transit operations in what was supposed to be a five-year, $200 million extension of the 1% sales tax for trans portation. That left a citizen advisory committee with just $60 million, and it had to choose from among submissions total ing about $600 million. The committee’s list of recommendations leaned heavily toward projects in East Athens and on the Eastside, such as replacing the dangerous North Avenue bridge over the Loop, safety improvements on Barnett Shoals Road and bike lanes on College Station Road. Some projects would be distributed throughout the county. Commissioners subsequently decided at a work session earlier this month that they would tack a sixth year onto TSPLOST 2026, raising an additional $42 million. That would allow them to add improve ments to the Five Points intersection in Winterville, as well as free up about $10 million for a Middle Oconee Greenway segment from Burton Park to either Beech Haven or Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School, and/or completing the underfunded Timothy/Mitchell Bridge multiuse trail. Additional money could be freed up by shifting Eastside projects to tax allocation districts for the North Avenue and Lex ington Road areas, where taxes from new development are devoted to infrastructure within the TAD, Link suggested. Myers and Commissioner Ovita Thorn ton, who represent those areas, defended the eastward tilt by saying previous rounds of TSPLOST favored the Westside. Thorn- ton, though, said she may not vote for the TSPLOST 2026 because she hasn’t seen enough progress in TSPLOST 2023. Under new manager Bob Cowell, ACC is looking at ways to speed up construction of capital projects that often linger for years. HOMEWOOD VILLAGE: A proposal to level part of the shopping center to make way for two five-story apartment buildings may be kicked down the road again after repeated delays, as new questions emerged about sewer capacity. Residents of nearby subdivisions told commissioners they’re already having problems with sewer leaks without adding hundreds of new sinks, showers, toilets and washing machines to the equation. Cowell said the shopping center was built at a time before stormwater management was required, and so runoff is getting into the aging sewer lines. That led to a broader discussion of whether the commission is approving more apartments than the sewer infrastructure can handle. “Buildings are going up, and we are not fixing what is below,” Thornton said. “You are, we are, definitely investing in infrastructure,” Cowell responded, adding that the commission would get a presenta tion on the five-year water and sewer ser vice delivery plan next spring. “We made the recommendation to install a sewer storage tank in that area,” ACC Public Utilities Director Hollis Terry said. “In the meantime we’re putting out flow meters, and we’re going to get the capacity fixed by what we call coating the line” to prevent leaks. > continued on next page Indulge in expert hair services, restorative float pod therapy, infrared sauna sessions, therapeutic massage, radiant facials, and meticulous nail care-all thoughtfully designed to renew your body, mind, and spirit. 706-548-2188 600 Oglethorpe Ave #4 Athens, Georgia 30606 ALAFERA.COM ACTIVE CLIMBING INDOOR ROCK CLIMBING
