The Athens Downtown Development Authority is moving quickly with a redesigned pedestrian plaza on College Square.
The ADDA will collect public comment over the next month with the goal of finishing the project within 18 months. Construction is expected to take about a year. To expedite the process, the ADDA is funding the $6 million overhaul itself, rather than wait for another round of sales tax projects.
“This is a badly needed project that the downtown community wants to see move forward,” ADDA Director of Planning and Outreach David Lynn told commissioners at a Sept. 10 work session presentation. “We’re willing to write the check.”
As part of Athens-Clarke County’s annual budget approved in June, county commissioners agreed to give a larger portion of net parking revenue—from 20% to 40%—to the ADDA, which the authority plans to devote to beautification projects that generate economic activity and encourage social interactions, Lynn said. In 2023, the additional revenue for the ADDA would have amounted to almost $300,000.
While the ADDA has the ability to issue bonds, the board decided last month that the best course of action would be to take out a conventional bank loan to fund the project, and Lynn said downtown officials have already met with several local banks that have agreed to the loan in principle. The loan would be repaid with the ADDA’s share of parking revenue (the other 60% goes into ACC’s general fund).
Closing College Square to cars had been discussed since at least the 1970s, but for decades merchants fought it because they would lose 16 parking spaces. In 2020, during the COVID pandemic, the commission voted to close it to vehicles temporarily. “We kind of had a new demand for outdoor space, and it created an opportunity to try out an idea that had been around for a while,” said Josh Hawkins, ACC’s director of capital projects.
The commission voted to make the closure permanent in 2021, but the change has meant little more than installing bollards along Clayton Street and scattering picnic tables on the existing asphalt. The ADDA project would replace the pavement with brick, and add additional seating, lighting and trees.
Since the closure, Lynn said he has not heard from anyone who wants to reopen College Square to cars. “What I hear from people is, ‘You’ve already closed it,’” he said. “…I think what people are looking for is a beautiful space that attracts people.”
The ADDA submitted a $7.9 million proposal in 2022 for TSPLOST, the voter-approved sales tax for transportation, but a citizen committee rejected the idea. Commissioners then included $500,000 for planning and design.
Commissioner Carol Myers asked why the cost had fallen. “This was originally designed as a stormwater project” involving underground work, Lynn said. “We’re not doing that.” However, “It’s an opportunity for utilities to address concerns while College Square is dug up. But that will certainly have to come from their budgets,” he said.
Public outreach will include a website and an onsite kiosk with a QR code. In addition to already-identified stakeholders like downtown business and property owners, UGA, various ACC government departments, the Convention and Visitors Bureau and Historic Athens, who will be invited to attend one or more of three meetings, Commissioner Melissa Link suggested talking to festival organizers and artists as well, not wanting to leave out the “breakdancing unicyclists.”
She also raised concerns about brick pavers. “You’ve got coeds in high heels, scooters, people pushing strollers,” she said. Concrete stains easily, said Ed Lane, CEO of SPG Planners + Engineers in Watkinsville, while stone is more expensive.
The College Square project could evolve into a broader facelift known as “The Stitch,” extending further up College Avenue to City Hall, along Washington Street and across Broad Street to North Campus, strengthening connections between the two sides of downtown and between downtown and UGA, Lynn said.
Broad Street, a state-owned highway, has always been viewed by local officials as untouchable, but lately the Georgia Department of Transportation has gotten better at working with cities on pedestrian safety improvements to state highways, according to Lynn. “It may be a new day with GDOT, and we’re looking forward to getting some help from our across-the-street partner,” he said.
The commission is scheduled to vote on the concept plan Oct. 1, and on an intergovernmental agreement with the ADDA, including financing, on Nov. 6.
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