Athens-Clarke County is blessed with a top-tier fire department, as judged by the third-party ratings agency Insurance Services Office. As long as Athens maintains its strong ISO rating, homeowners across the county will pay the lowest possible rate for fire insurance. Yet, keeping this rating takes ongoing effort and is not guaranteed in the future as Athens grows.
In order to keep fire insurance costs low, the ACC Fire Department is recommending moving fire station No. 5 from its current location on Whit Davis Road to the intersection of Old Lexington Road and Morton Road. This would provide faster emergency response times to southeast Athens, which currently lacks adequate coverage.
Fire station No. 5 is roughly 50 years old and no longer meets the needs of ACC firefighters. They say it is too small, that it does not have a dedicated exercise room, and is not ADA compliant or energy efficient. This aging facility was not designed with female firefighters in mind, as it lacks a women’s restroom and provides little privacy in the living area. Ironically, fire station No. 5 also lacks fire protective equipment such as a sprinkler system, making an upgrade necessary.
$6 million was earmarked for a new fire station in SPLOST 2020. A site selection committee has been working since 2022 to find an acceptable location in southeastern Clarke County for the new station. This effort has been met with fierce resistance from east side residents who don’t want a fire station in their backyards. In 2023, the ACC Commission rejected a list of candidate sites near the intersection of Old Lexington Road and Morton Road after a public outcry, causing the site selection committee to start over. In 2023, commissioners approved a new set of site selection criteria that included public input, and they were hopeful that an acceptable site could eventually be found that also met the needs of the fire department.
However, the new criteria produced a list of candidate sites very similar to the previous one, with all sites located near the intersection of Old Lexington Road and Morton Road. Only that area provides maximum coverage for fire department services while avoiding overlap with other fire stations.
That fact doesn’t do much to console Eastside residents who view the fire station as threatening and intrusive. Seven residents who live close to the proposed location came out to the commission’s agenda-setting meeting Aug. 19 to speak against the site during public comment.
“We moved to this quiet part of the city with a dream. A dream of space, peace and a better life for our children,” Sabrina Ward told the mayor and commission. “[The proposed site] may look like a logical place on paper, but to us, it’s our home. It’s where our children ride their bikes, where we watch deer graze in the morning, where the stars still shine at night because city lights haven’t swallowed the sky.
“We’re not against progress… but this proposal feels like progress without compassion,” Ward said, appearing to be on the verge of tears.
Other residents shared her concerns, listing noise, traffic and light pollution as the major problems they had with the proposed location.
ACC Fire Chief Nate Moss explained that the proposed fire station would be 600 feet from the closest home, and that it would have a low level of activity, with only one fire engine deployed there. The station is expected to receive only two or three calls a day, mostly for medical emergencies, not all of which would require lights and sirens. Furthermore, sound barriers and other design elements could be included to minimize impacts on quality of life for the neighbors.
Commissioner Patrick Davenport, who represents the area, announced that he will be presenting an alternate proposal to take yet another look at different sites outside of the recommended area. “I agree with the residents,” Davenport told his colleagues. “People move to the east side because they want that peace and quiet… There’s a quality of life that people buy into. They don’t want to see the lights… Please don’t deny these individuals their quality of life.”
Commissioner Stephanie Johnson agreed with Davenport, questioning the high cost of the proposed location. She claimed that fire station construction “would destroy tons of trees” in the area. However, the commission’s agenda report said that the number of trees needing removal at this location are “very limited.”
If the commission votes against the fire station’s proposed location on Sept. 2, it could threaten the county’s ISO rating, potentially causing Athenians to pay more for fire insurance in the future. It could also delay response times to southeast Athens for medical emergencies, potentially threatening the health of residents there.
Triangle Plaza Community Garden: The commission is also considering a request from Athens nonprofit Farm to Neighborhood to change a Triangle Plaza planned development at 585 Vine St. Farm to Neighborhood—an organization “focused on creating a community where everyone has access to delicious, nutritious and affordable food choices,” according to its website—is asking for permission to reduce the number of parking spaces in the plaza from 28 to 18. That would create space to add 22 trees and a community garden, and to widen a sidewalk. Farm to Neighborhood plans to convert a building into a teaching kitchen and community space, but no changes will be made to the building’s exterior structure.
Several locals spoke during public comment to oppose the redevelopment, including two residents who live nearby. Cshanyse Allen, the founder of the Inner East Athens Neighbors community group, also spoke in opposition, although she does not live in the area. “Allowing this amendment sets a dangerous precedent. Today, it’s a teaching kitchen and a garden. But tomorrow, it could be apartments, student housing, high land values and families priced out,” Allen said.
The zoning request could not be used to allow housing of any kind in the area. Planned developments are fixed and cannot change unless approved by the mayor and commission—hence the need to amend a previous PD to remove parking..
Johnson, who defeated Farm to Neighborhood founder Rashe Malcolm in the 2024 election, questioned the proposal in personal terms, prompting a rebuke from Mayor Kelly Girtz reminding commissioners to stick to the plan itself. But Commissioner Tiffany Taylor, who grew up in East Athens, expressed her support. “I think this idea to get a community garden as well as a teaching kitchen in our community, I think that it’s a great idea. I think that it helps define the word ‘community,’ Taylor said. “I wouldn’t have any objection to the planning department’s recommendation to approve it.”
Macon Highway Townhouses: The commission is considering whether to upzone 9.5 acres to allow for a new development of 70 townhomes with 227 bedrooms in total. Both the ACC Planning Department and the ACC Planning Commission are recommending denial of the request.
Despite planners’ disapproval, Commissioner John Culpepper spoke up in support. Culpepper argued that Athens needs more housing, and that approving it at this location may help to keep students out of single-family neighborhoods in the future. “This is a student housing area,” he said. “We’re going to have to increase density, so why not increase it [here] instead of having them move into our single-family residential homes?”
Commissioner Dexter Fisher disagreed, saying that Athens doesn’t need any more student housing in this location, or anywhere else. “We have to get out of this [mindset] where we need more student housing. We really don’t,” Fisher said. “Why build more when we really don’t need more?”
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