ACC Withdraws Plan for West Broad School
Athens-Clarke County officials have given up on trying to convince the Clarke County School District to turn the historic and decaying West Broad School into a youth development center at ACC expense.
“We’ve moved on,” Mayor Kelly Girtz told Flagpole. “I would have liked to have it as the site, but the school district was just not ready to make it happen.”
Instead, Girtz said the ACC government will turn its attention to other sites, such as Rocksprings Park. The commission years ago decided to place the center within the historically Black West Broad area—roughly bordered by Hancock Avenue, Broad Street, Alps Road, Baxter Street and Milledge Avenue—and awarded the Athens Land Trust a contract to run it if and when it was built.
In November 2022, the ACC Commission voted to select the West Broad School as the preferred site for the youth development center despite ongoing controversy surrounding the property. In 2019, then-school superintendent Demond Means ended a contract with the Athens Land Trust to operate a community garden and farmer’s market on the property. Later, the school board rejected an ALT proposal in favor of Means’ plans for an early learning center.
Two years later, the school board also rejected the early learning center because the plans called for saving only the 1938 Minor Street building. Black residents and historic preservation advocates also believed a 1954 building facing Campbell Street could be saved. The school served Black children during the segregation era.
Girtz then stepped in and made another pitch to the school board for the youth development center. The ACC government has committed $3.2 million from SPLOST 2011. At the time, the ALT had raised $1 million with commitments for $4 million more, bringing the total funding available to more than $8 million. The county would pay to renovate the buildings, and the ALT would operate the youth development center under a long-term lease, but CCSD would continue to own the property.
Meanwhile, the West Broad School has now been vacant for 17 years, ever since the now-closed Rutland Academy, a regional alternative school, moved to a new building off Oglethorpe Avenue.
“I’m interested in making sure this important site is taken care of,” Girtz said. “I hope the school district is on the same wavelength.”
CCSD’s communications office did not respond to repeated requests for comment. [Blake Aued]
Arena Will Run Partially on Solar
Solar panels will help to power the new arena at the Classic Center, scheduled to open in December.
Macon-based Cherry Street Energy is installing 648 rooftop solar panels at Akins Ford Arena, which will provide 12.5% of the arena’s energy. That brings the total number of solar panels at the Classic Center to 1,600, generating 36% of the convention center’s overall energy needs.
“It is an honor to partner with Cherry Street Energy on this solar array project,” Classic Center President and CEO Paul Cramer said in a news release. “I cannot thank Mayor Kelly Girtz and the ACC Commission enough for encouraging us to create a resource that is an asset to Athens in many ways. Building a facility that will be an economic driver for this community while reducing our carbon footprint is an incredible accomplishment.”
Cherry Street is the same company that installed solar panels at Terrapin Brewery in 2021. As with Terrapin, the panels were installed at no cost, with the Classic Center buying electricity from Cherry Street at costs that are competitive with traditional providers.
In 2019, the ACC Commission passed a resolution setting a goal of transitioning to 100% clean energy for government facilities by 2035, and for the entire community by 2050. The SPLOST 2020 referendum included $15.8 million for clean energy, such as solar energy and electric vehicles. [BA]
Help Shape Transportation
The Athens-Clarke County government is planning three public workshops to help residents make suggestions on how millions of dollars could be spent to improve Athens’ transportation infrastructure.
Athens relies on a 1% sales tax to fund infrastructure projects and other transportation needs around town. This tax, called TSPLOST, was last authorized by the voters starting in 2023 for a period of five years, or until the county collected $160 million. Since sales tax revenue has been coming in quicker than anticipated, voters will get a chance to renew TSPLOST early. The vote is tentatively scheduled for May of 2026 so there is no gap between when it expires and when it is renewed. Due to this accelerated timeline, potential TSPLOST projects will need to be submitted by Nov. 10.
While most SPLOST and TSPLOST projects are submitted by local government departments like ACC Transportation and Public Works, regular Athenians can receive funding for transportation projects in their neighborhoods. In fact, there has been a push to increase this kind of participation in our local democracy in recent years. TSPLOST 2023 saw the highest number of resident-submitted projects in Athens’ history, a large number of which were funded. These projects have provided funding to fill sidewalk gaps in neighborhoods like Stonehenge and Westchester, improve street lighting in East Athens and to improve safety at the Five Points intersection.
Local government officials have scheduled three public workshops in October to walk people through the submission process: Tuesday, Oct. 8 from 6–8 p.m.; Thursday, Oct. 10 from 6–8 p.m.; and Saturday, Oct. 19 from 9 a.m.–1 p.m. All three are at Lay Park. The ACC government has also created an instructional video to help walk citizens through the project submission process.
If TSPLOST is renewed, the sales tax rate in Athens would remain steady at 8%. If voters reject the tax, the sales tax rate in Athens would fall to 7%, but many important transportation projects would likely be delayed, perhaps by years or decades, or funded with property taxes instead. [Chris Dowd]
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