An Oak Grove Primer

The ongoing attempts to bring an additional grocery store to the westside of Athens-Clarke County appear to be reaching an end with the rezoning request from Oak Grove slated to be approved at an upcoming meeting of the Athens-Clarke County Commission meeting. This project, a controversial one given its deviation from the original village concept promoted by the development's original builders and its location in the community's 'Greenbelt' region, has been twice been reviewed by local staff, approved and denied by the Athens-Clarke County Planning Commission and been the subject of serious negotiations between commissioners and the project's builders.

It's been a rather confusing journey, so consider this a brief primer on the process.

At its May 7 meeting, the Athens-Clarke County Planning Commission voted 4-3 in favor of Oak Grove to recommend approval to the rezoning and amendments to the Future Development Plan. This vote was on the proposal from the Oak Grove developers as is, with some conditions as noted by Athens-Clarke County planning staff.

The rezoning request was tabled by the Athens-Clarke County Commission in its June meeting, leading Mayor Heidi Davison and other commissioners to enter into negotiations with the developers to find a suitable compromise, particularly given the hesitancy of many on the commission with the proposal.

The initial plans for Oak Grove, when it was first pitched to the community, called for a pedestrian-friendly community center to serve as the neighborhood's anchor.

The original developer, however, has left the Oak Grove project and a new builder, Jon Williams, has served as the principal agent since then. The community center morphed into a standard strip mall anchored by a grocery store (Publix is the name bantered around in most of these discussions). The negotiations yielded a better result including more preserved greenspace, a reduction in drive-throughs, less parking and additional tree buffers (to name a few things).

Understandably, though, it remains sort of a mixed bag given its location in the 'Greenbelt' area of the community and its still heavy reliance on vehicular traffic rather than pedestrian traffic. Over at Flagpole, Ben offered some valid criticism that centered on the premise of Oak Grove, and not necessarily the project itself ...

The thing is, the location was precisely the problem back in 2000, when citizens rose up en masse to oppose the Jefferson Road development that was contrary to the new land-use plan then in the works. The concern is no less relevant now, even if our commissioners are hearing more (a lot more) from westsiders desirous of a grocery store than from the smart-growth advocates who elected them all. The irony is that the present Commission most likely wouldn’t have approved the original planned development for Oak Grove in 2000, and absolutely wouldn’t have approved the partial rezone to Commercial-Neighborhood in 2004. Now commissioners feel stuck, like they have to grant the developers’ requests because of what came before. But why not see Oak Grove for what it is? The present owners’ purchase was a bad investment in a community that values its greenbelt. And in Athens, at least, bad investments don’t deserve bailouts.

Still, the compromise was considerably better than the initial proposal, and Ben even conceded the project would be approved easily in the July meeting. And while the commission had the project before them on the table and was gearing up for a vote, Athens-Clarke County staff intervened and suggested the compromise be returned to them for additional technical review.

While not an unreasonable request on its surface, it was one that came roughly at the 11th hour, meaning the additional review by staff and the Planning Commission would result in more delays on the project.

And it was something that Athens-Clarke County District 10 Commissioner Mike Hamby registered his displeasure with ...

After we made the motion last time with a set of different changes, we sent it back to staff for review, and I was mistaken in thinking that a review meant a review. I guess I'll learn my lesson now. I am bothered because we spent four meetings on this - and at least two to three hours per meeting - meeting with the residents of Oak Grove, and this concern is brought up now? Right before this meeting? It would have been nice to know this at the first meeting ... Whichever way you come down on this, I just think we need to treat them fairly, and by doing this, I just don't think we're treating them fairly.

Considering the Planning Commission had previously recommended approval for a less-than-desirable, the compromise's passage seemed certain, right?

Well, not so much.

Just three months later after recommending approval, the Planning Commission voted 3-2 for denial.

Those who opposed the initial version of the project held rank in the August meeting when the more community friendly compromise made its way back to them, only this time they were buoyed by poor attendence. Jonathan Biron and Bradd Stuart voted against the development in both instances, with Steve Martin opposing it on May 7 and Lucy Rowland taking his place on August 6. Martin was absent from the August meeting, while Rowland was serving as the non-voting chair for the May meeting.

Biron's opposition to the project was recorded in the May minutes ...

There is an amenity for people who live in this area, but I want Athens to be a beacon for the whole state. By copying things that exist in so many places, I don't think it is. I want Athens to be better than everywhere is. This is an improvement. We've asked them to meet the standard conditions and I'm glad the development team has done what we asked them to do. I've been remiss in not requiring much more from the beginning, saying that meeting that kind of standard is going to be enough, because in the end I don't think it is enough for me.

In the summary for the August meeting attached to the Planning Commission's recommendation to the Athens-Clarke County Commission, Biron's position was unchanged ...

Mr. Biron stated that this is an improvement, but not incredibly different than the last plan. The overall nature of it is not substantially better. The lighting for this is crucial.

Scott Weinberg and Gene Sapp, who both supported the rezoning request at the May meeting, were absent from the August meeting, thus tipping the scales in favoring of those opposed to the project. Weinberg offered these thoughts at the May meeting ...

I think it's what we asked for. I think they've done everything we asked for. I'm going to vote for it. I hope you guys will realize that this is not going to save Athens; this is not going to destroy Athens; it's going to make the Oak Grove neighborhood what it was supposed to be in the first place - a neighborhood. It's also going to help a lot of people who live in the area.

It should be noted that, in both instances, planning staff recommended approving the rezoning with conditions. And, given that the Future Development Plan was modified by the Athens-Clarke County by a 9-1 vote (with District Six Commissioner Ed Robinson dissenting), the project, after its long procedural journey, appears headed for approval.

But, then again, we thought that just a month or so ago.