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Transferable Development Rights May Yet Become a Reality Here
originally published July 16, 2008
After over two years of study, a diverse citizens committee has concluded that a “transferable development rights” program should be initiated in Athens-Clarke County (ACC), but nobody expects that will be easy. TDRs are a market mechanism used to protect greenspace in certain areas - “sending zones” - by allowing developers more flexibility to build in other areas - “receiving zones” - through the buying and selling of development “rights.” Such programs provide more certainty for developers than time-consuming rezone requests which have uncertain outcomes. Some commissioners see TDRs as a way of permanently protecting the semi-rural “greenbelt” lying just inside the ACC boundaries, and the notion has been endorsed by Athens Grow Green Coalition. (The greenbelt is protected now by zoning, but that could conceivably be changed by future commissioners).
Beyond ACC’s county lines, adjoining counties are free to develop as they choose, so last week some ACC commissioners suggested inviting nearby counties to participate as well. At last week’s work session, County Manager Alan Reddish promised inquiries would be made. The TDR committee concluded that ACC already has enough residential zoning in place to accommodate two decades of future growth. Rather than encourage more residential building, a TDR program should “find ways to incentivize commercial development, mixed-use development, infill development, redevelopment of aging commercial and residential areas and good-quality affordable housing,” said commissioner Alice Kinman (who also chaired the TDR committee). The committee recommended that landowners in the “AR” or agricultural-residential zone be allowed one development right per acre to sell. (Some citizens on the committee saw TDRs as a way of compensating AR landowners for having "downzoned" their land in 2000 to allow only one house per 10 acres.) Planning experts told committee members that having a greenbelt - an "urban growth boundary" in planning lingo - gives ACC a head start in designing a TDR program.
Picking “receiving” zones - where denser development, or other exemptions (like taller buildings) would be allowed - is expected to be controversial.
“A TDR program has to be designed in such a way that it protects the quality of life in existing neighborhoods,” Kinman said. She suggested starting with only one or two receiving zones. Commissioner David Lynn suggested first “downzoning” the receiving zones “so the status quo is at most preserved” when TDRs are applied, rather than further increasing density there. And a TDR program might be combined with wetlands mitigation, Lynn suggested, or geared to encouraging affordable housing to be built inside or outside the county.
“We didn’t map sending zones,” Kinman said, "but the committee suggested focussing on “environmentally sensitive areas in the greenbelt.” Receiving zones suggested by committee members included areas adjacent to Lexington and Jefferson roads and Atlanta Highway. “There are a ton of issues,” planning director Brad Griffin told commissioners. “None of these things have been worked out at this point, or even talked about in detail.” Hiring a consultant, he said, would be “a given.”
A Consultant Is on Board for the New Parking Deck
originally published July 16, 2008
Commissioners also heard last week from a consultant who’s already been hired to help ACC build a downtown parking garage, combined with residential and retail space, using an “integrated public/private partnership.” That means the county government will seek a developer to build and operate the commercial spaces, while the county will own the parking deck. Such an “integrated” partnership will be complicated, but appears to have caught the imagination of commissioners who see the deck - to be built behind and beside the Georgia Theatre - as an important landmark. (Past consultants have said downtown doesn’t actually lack parking - just conveniently located parking - and the deck’s size has been reduced to 475 spaces.)
Kevin Glaze, president of Public-Private Partnership Project Management (“4PM” for short), told commissioners his firm will help the county to define what it wants from a developer so that the county gets what it wants - probably “more by telling the developer what you don’t want than what you do,” he said - and so does the developer. What the developer wants will usually be a lowered risk, he said: therefore, “you’re going to have to expose yourself to a certain degree to some losses.” But the biggest risk is often a lack of political will, and ACC appears ready to clear that hurdle, he added. Glaze said his firm will help choose qualified developers, and “they’ll come back with actual conceptual designs for what they want to do.” Glaze told Flagpole he is confident there will be enough proposals to choose from; he will also help evaluate them. “This needs to look like it belongs in Athens,” he told commissioners. “It’s going to be very difficult to draw a line in this project and say, ’this is public; this is private.’” More important, he said, is being clear on who is responsible for decisions. And because county governments inevitably move more slowly than developers, construction is not likely to begin before 2010.
“I’m excited,” said Kathryn Lookofsky, Director of the Downtown Development Authority, after the work session. “I wish it was done yesterday, though.”
Study of Three Creeks Will Reveal Sources of Coliform Pollution
originally published July 16, 2008
Three local creeks - one “urban” (Brooklyn Creek), one “suburban” (Hunnicutt Creek) and one “transitional” (Trail Creek) - will be studied intensively under grant-funded research intended to help protect these and other creeks. UGA’s Institute of Ecology and the Upper Oconee Watershed Network (a citizens’ environmental group) will work with the ACC government on the project. Extensive chemical and biological tests will be made over two years at several points along the creeks (with “reference” samples from Bear Creek, which feeds the drinking-water reservoir). The study will look for pollution sources within the watersheds (drainage areas) of each creek.
All three streams are currently state-listed for fecal coliform pollution; but so are most creeks in Georgia. “There’s a lot of debate about fecal coliform [counts] as an appropriate standard for water quality,” said county engineer Jason Peek. Coliform bacteria are only a rough measure that can give a clue to leaky septic tanks or sewer systems - or might just come from dog or deer feces. One aim of the $467,000 study - funded with federal and local tax dollars - will be to find the sources of coliform bacteria, clean them up and get the three streams “delisted,” Peek said. It is also designed to provide useful data and research opportunities to UGA’s River Basin Center, and “lay the groundwork” for future cooperation with local government. Often, “the data that’s out there isn’t sufficient to tell us what’s causing those impairments” or how to correct them, Peek said.
“Urban” streams tend to suffer surges of rainwater runoff from roofs and parking lots - water that otherwise might soak into the ground. Those surges can erode topsoil and stream channels, and carry soil particles into creeks along with bacteria that make drinking water more difficult to treat. But there have been no Georgia streams untouched by man since the era of extensive cotton farming, Peek said. “These streams have recovered from that, but we don’t really have any watersheds that haven’t been impacted by some type of land-use activity within the past hundred years.”
The one-of-a-kind study, designed by Peek and his staff, will take a broad view of the watersheds, including walking evaluations of the undeveloped buffers that help filter pollutants from rainwater. There will be public forums on the results, and a watershed management plan will be completed for each stream in 2010. What’s learned “can be transferred to the remaining 14 watersheds in the community, and potentially to other municipalities in the state,” according to a project description.
Athens Okay on Air Pollution Except for Atlanta Exports
originally published July 16, 2008
Scientists within the EPA recently redefined how much ground-level ozone is acceptable to public health. Ground-level ozone is responsible for a range of respiratory health effects, most notably asthma, which has increased in prevalence in many urban areas in the last few decades.
In the last decade, the federal ozone limit went from 120 to 80 and as of March, 2008, it is now 75 parts per billion. Atlanta has historically had difficulty meeting these standards. Athens likely won’t have a hard time meeting this new standard, since the city has been well below it in the past, according to Dick Fields, Environmental Coordinator for Athens-Clarke County. As of the start of July, Athens has not had a day so far this year where the city failed to meet the standard. However, pollution from Atlanta has taken local levels near the limit in the past, and Athens still faces the chance of dropping below full compliance.
Ozone is created when volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxide (NOX) combine with heat. In the South, abundant vegetation creates concentrations of biogenic VOCs, but plenty comes from human-created sources. According to Susan Jenkins, air expert at the state EPD, half of all NOX and VOCs come from automobiles, and the rest come from power plants, wood-burning and general equipment like lawn mowers. The Clean Air Act (CAA) dictates that states must regulate and permit all point-sources like power plants and other industrial sources of pollutants, but vehicle emissions are not regulated unless conditions are severe, since those emissions fall under the federal purview as interstate commerce. If Athens doesn’t meet the standard, the miss will be minimal, and this would only affect the total amount of VOCs and NOX emissions permitted to local industries. Atlanta, on the other hand, since its non-attainment was serious, lost some local control of its transportation funding and planning and has paid fines for quite some time.
Athens is not entirely in the clear, because of proximity to Atlanta. Athens came the closest to this new ozone standard when it hit 73 parts per billion on June 24 last year. On that day, Atlanta experienced a serious tire fire, and because wind was blowing from that direction, Athens experienced a heightened ozone level. On that same day, Conyers, Gwinnett and Clayton counties, all surrounding Atlanta, saw levels of 86, 76 and 86 parts per billion.
Local point-sources of VOCs and NOX, according to Fields, come primarily from the one small coal-fired power plant at UGA, located near the Statistics building where Cedar Street intersects with East Campus Road. The railroad that crosses East Campus brings the coal into this plant. Certainteed and other local industrial sources of air pollution contribute secondarily to total county levels. UGA recently installed scrubbers to the power plant’s air stack, which it says will significantly reduce total pollution.
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