Story last updated at 12:02 a.m. on Saturday, January 31, 2004
Changing Prince: Community, commuters in battle
royal
Stress developing along avenue
By Allison Floyd
As
one of the managers of the Daily Co-op Grocery, Gordon Bryant knows the traffic
patterns on Prince Avenue.
But when a police officer asked his advice about
what part of day brings the worst speeding, he couldn't narrow it down much.
The conflict between commuter and community rages all day along the busy thoroughfare
just outside of downtown Athens, and residents, business owners and planners predict
it will only get worse as land values and the success of Athens Regional Medical
Center spawn large office buildings that draw traffic like a magnet.
One project
like that, a medical office building planned across Prince from the hospital,
has focused the debate about the character of the busy street and the traffic
that plagues pedestrians and bicyclists as they go about business in their neighborhood.
It's so bad already, Bryant compares eating in the small sidewalk cafe outside
The Grit to the experience of dining on the shoulder of an interstate highway.
''One
little slip of the wheel and your lunch would be all over their windshield,''
he said.
So, when neighbors look at a plan for the new four-story office building
behind McDonald's - where a handful of small shops and Prince Rondeval Apartments
stand today - they know that the change will bring more cars. The official estimate
is 1,800 more cars a day. (Editor's note: A correction was made to this article
Feb. 4, 2004.)
The developers of the project have met with neighbors at least
twice, and satisfied most of their aesthetic demands and concerns about cut-through
traffic.
But people who live in the area - a short, but harried bike ride
away from downtown and the University of Georgia - continue to debate the broader
issue about the future of Prince Avenue.
''It's going to get horrible. It's
already horrible,'' downtown resident Rosa Knape said after she gathered a bag
of groceries at the Daily Co-Op. She plans to move back to Normaltown, where neighbors
would stop in the street and return her cat if she sneaked out of the house. But
the speed of the traffic annoys and scares her, she said.
The new office
building, which will include 80,000-plus square feet of offices and shops facing
Prince Avenue, will enhance pedestrian safety by reducing the number of curb cuts
and improving the intersection at King Avenue, according to Abe Abouhamdan, an
engineer working with the developers.
Locals didn't seem to take much issue
with those details when they met with developers in a question-and-answer session
last week sponsored by the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation.
But they challenged
them about the size of the building, whether a two-story parking deck proves that
the building means to draw cars and whether developers should have considered
adding houses to the mixed use development.
The destruction of Prince Rondeval
Apartments - an unsightly but inexpensive apartment building that will be razed
as a part of the project - is already sparking debate with affordable housing
advocates.
While neighbors needled developers about how the office building
fits into the community, Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation Director Amy Kissane
pointed out that the developers of a single project can't answer questions about
the broader community.
''That's a discussion this community needs to have,
not just with this project, but with Prince Avenue as a whole,'' Kissane said.
The Athens-Clarke Planning Commission is slated next month to consider a rezoning
application for the building. While many residents, planners and officials say
that professionals and locals should set down a more definite plan for the corridor,
there's no schedule to do that.
And, they agree, it's a transitional time
for the corridor. St. Joseph's Catholic Church might sell its 6-acre campus; one
of the area's best-known businesses, Allen's Hamburgers, closed at New Year's;
and the federal government might close the Navy Supply Corps School.
The type
and size of developments that come to the corridor now could set the tone for
years and could swing that difficult balance between community and commuter.
''There's definitely some conflicting uses there,'' said Athens-Clarke Commissioner
David Lynn, whose district includes Prince Avenue. ''There's a conflict there,
and I'm not sure how to reconcile that.''
While most constituents want to
slow traffic and find ways to make the area safer for pedestrians and cyclists,
Lynn said others argue that Prince Avenue is a thoroughfare connecting Athens
and Gainesville, not just a neighborhood street.
Lynn admits he doesn't know
how to strike a balance.
''If I could wave a magic wand and bring back those
antebellum mansions (that once lined Prince), I would,'' he said. ''Do we need
to do some proactive planning on Prince? Of course. I am partially to blame for
not getting that started earlier.''
If commissioners approve the rezoning
necessary for the office building, it could be the first of many large projects.
''I think it's unrealistic to think there will only be one building of that scale,''
said Bruce Lonnee, the county's senior planner.
If economic conditions call
for more office space near the hospital and the government hasn't made an official
plan to direct that development somewhere else, developers will likely choose
land close to the hospital, Lonnee said.
''I'm worried about that end of Prince
Avenue,'' said Lynn. ''I'm not panicking about it. But I don't want to look back
and know we didn't do anything.''
Published in the Athens Banner-Herald
on Saturday, January 31, 2004.