Green Retaining
Walls, Perhaps?

Don't let the name fool you. The new North Oconee River Greenway may not end up quite as green as one might expect.
Trees and other greenery have been bulldozed along the Greenway, near the intersection of Willow Street and North Avenue, to make way for the retaining walls and asphalt of a new apartment complex.
Land near the Willow Street construction site was originally cleared to clean up contaminated soil left by an old Atlanta Gas Light facility. Now the owner of Whistlebury apartments on North Avenue, says property manager Betsy Samuels, is building a new complex there called Whistlebury Walk.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with apartments going in next to the Greenway, says Athens-Clarke County Planning Technician Julie D. Morgan. The land is zoned as a central business district that allows multiple single-family and two-family developments on one lot. No rezoning was required for the construction.
According to the SPLOST IV page on the Athens-Clarke County web site, the campaign statement of the Greenway project is to, "acquire and begin appropriate development of the wetlands and bottom land tracts along the North Oconee River which will provide a variety of outdoor recreational and educational opportunities, and safe alternative transportation including pedestrian and bicycle paths."
Oconee Rivers Greenway Commission Chairman Richard Field says that he is happy to see the apartment complex go in so close to the Greenway. He says he likes the idea of students living nearby.
"[Apartments] will provide people who will use the Greenway," Field says.
Field also says he expects more development around the Greenway and hopes it will connect to the downtown area. He says keeping these areas undeveloped would be an inefficient use of the land.
"We have a large chunk of space for the Greenway," Field says. "To preserve any more would be counterproductive."
The North Oconee Greenway is a SPLOST IV-funded project, approved by Athens-Clarke voters in 1994. When phase one is completed, a wide strip of concrete footpath dotted with lampposts will stretch from East Broad Street along Willow Street ending at the Sandy Creek Nature Center.
Information on the North Oconee River Greenway and all other SPLOST IV projects can be found on the ACC web site at athensclarkecounty.com/splost.htm. (Jeremy Bales)

Maybe They Can
Just Pave Over It

Politicians and business interests seeking more scientific data on area development and water quality have gotten their wish.
The McNutt Creek Watershed Group, made up of hydrology and ecology experts, government officials and watershed area citizens, has completed the latest draft of a "condition and issues report" on the section of the stream above its confluence with Barber Creek.
The report documents "considerable degradation in both water quality and aquatic habitat of the McNutt Creek system," and suggests it is, ecologically speaking, maxed out.
McNutt Creek, which for most of its length forms part of the Athens-Clarke/Oconee County border, is a tributary of the Middle Oconee River. Increased development, precipitated by nearby State Highway 316 and Epps Bridge Parkway, has long been a concern for environmental advocates and residents who say that land-disturbing activities have damaged water and wildlife.
"The main problem in McNutt Creek right now is previous development has increased bank erosion and simplified habitat," says Rhett Jackson, a UGA assistant professor of hydrology who helped with the study. "Similarly, the sedimentation associated with construction has added a lot of sand to the system, which has also degraded the habitat."
Oconee County officials hope to transform the 316/Epps Bridge Parkway interchange into a major commercial center. Already there are plans for a Heyward Allen car dealership and Wal-Mart Supercenter to be built next to the new Lowe's on Epps Bridge - which sits across the street from the recently completed Kroger/Home Depot strip mall.
Jackson says non-aquatic life along McNutt Creek has thus far benefited from the surrounding flood plain, but he says the proposed Heyward Allen car lot "is really the first commercial proposal that's going to cut into what has been historically a good forest corridor along the stream."
It probably won't be the last. Oconee County wants to develop a 105-acre "Gateway Business Park" near the creek, with only 10 percent of the land set aside as green space.
Oconee County isn't the only governing body responsible for what happens to the watershed. The contractor for Iris Place, an Athens retirement community constructed on Epps Bridge this year, was allowed to clear and grade that site for a week with no erosion controls in place.
"They actually had the appropriate permit, and they had the appropriate plan," Jackson says, "but they didn't implement it, and they ended up getting fined by the state."
"They'd already caused so many problems it was difficult to rectify them when they put the erosion sediment control plan into place."
A recent vote by the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission set development buffers on McNutt Creek and other perennial lakes and streams at 75 feet. The buffer does not prohibit development, however, and is subject to state exemptions.
McNutt Creek was once listed as a "primary protected stream" in the new ACC development ordinance. Along with Cedar Creek, Trail Creek and Sandy Creek, it was to have a 100-foot buffer within Clarke County. But the protected streams list vanished from the development ordinance - with no public notification or input - in April.
The watershed group report suggests local governments concentrate development where demand is greatest (rather than "sprawled over a large area"), deny rezoning requests, enact transferable development rights, reduce impervious surfaces, assess impact fees on development and enforce erosion and sedimentation regulations in order to maintain water quality.
The group recommends Oconee County adopt a buffer ordinance of at least 50-feet of "naturally vegetated" buffer on all perennial and intermittent streams, and advises both Clarke and Oconee counties to amend site design standards to promote pedestrian and bicycle access; evaluate subdivision proposals for their effects on erosion and sedimentation, designate areas of protected green space on sections of the creek and adhere to approved land use plans.
Jackson says a full draft of the report will be available in January. The group plans to forward copies of the current version to all ACC Commissioners and Commission candidates. The latest draft will soon be available on the web at landscape.ecology.uga.edu/mcnutt/.

Hudgens Scores
A Positive Zero

Georgia Representative Ralph Hudgens (Republican - District 24) has scored a zero on a state public interest group scorecard.
The Georgia Rural Urban Summit (GRUS), an Atlanta-based non-profit founded in 1994, represents environmental and civil rights groups, labor unions, and other organizations "in support of positive, progressive change." The group's 2000 legislative report lists what it considers key state House and Senate bills, and how state legislators voted on them.
In the 2000 General Assembly, the GRUS says, Hudgens struck out on civil rights, education, the environment and women·s and workers' rights issues.
Hudgens voted against the Anti-Domestic Terrorism Act, which stiffens penalties for crimes motivated by the victim's race, gender, religion or sexual orientation. He voted for an amendment to Governor Barnes' education reform bill to add school vouchers, which would have allowed public funds to go to private and religious schools.
Hudgens voted to give the state legislature the power to override Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) rules, and to exclude heavy-polluting commercial trucks from emissions testing.
Hudgens voted to "severely weaken" a bill to bring Georgia into compliance with federal laws requiring equal funding for girls· and boys· sports programs in elementary and secondary schools. He also voted against raising the state minimum wage, now set at $5.15 per hour.
The House majority voted against Hudgens on all of the above issues. Athens' other representatives, Keith Heard (D-89) and Louise McBee (D-88), voted for the GRUS position on the six key measures cited in the report, save one. McBee was excused from a vote on the EPD bill.
House District 24 includes Madison County and a portion of eastern Athens-Clarke County. Hudgens is opposed in the November election by Athens attorney Doug McKillip, a Democrat.
For more information on the Georgia Rural Urban Summit, contact its Athens office at 546-1733, or visit garus.org.