The Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission met on Tuesday for a regular session, work session and special-called session. Items discussed included the Prince Avenue pilot project, affordable housing projects and an ordinance to allow the firefighters’ union collective bargaining rights.
Special-called session
The special-called session was held to discuss a resolution and ordinance for the Professional Firefighters of Athens-Clarke County Local 2795 — a union of local firefighters — to obtain collective bargaining rights. Georgia law does not recognize public sector labor unions, meaning employees don’t have the right to collectively bargain which is an essential function of unions.
However, a proposed ordinance called the Firefighter’s Mediation Act would allow the firefighter union to collectively bargain. The only other similar ordinances in the state have been passed in Fulton County.
“We, as a government, engage with collections of citizens all the time. We call them corporations and we tend to only engage with people at the top of them. This is an opportunity for us to engage with a different collection of citizens: the workers,” said District 6 Commissioner Jesse Houle.
Several citizens, including former president of Local 2795 Jeremy Williams and president of the Professional Firefighters of Athens-Clarke County, Emily Thompson, expressed frustration towards the Manager’s Office. They asked the Mayor and Commission to consider the ordinance to allow firefighters to exist within a labor union.
The ordinance needed six votes to pass but only received five votes in support of it. As a result, the issue was moved to be voted on in January.
Regular session
Members of the public spoke regarding a new development on Oglethorpe Avenue and accessory dwelling units. Residents’ comments focused on accessible housing and subdivision plan design.
Neighbors Susan Brooks and Justin Sanders expressed their support for a new subdivision at 1165 Oglethorpe Ave. Initially, the design included a street that would intersect the Forest Heights neighborhood by joining Oglethorpe Avenue with Landor Drive, but the developers have a new plan to avoid connecting the two that has yet to be approved by the Mayor and Commission. Brooks mentioned that she hopes the two communities will become integrated with the new design in the future.
Alice Kinman, the chairperson of the Inclusionary Housing Working Group, spoke regarding accessory housing.
“I heard three main concerns: parking, traffic and short-term rentals,” Kinman said.
Another resident said that this is the “babiest step, bare minimum” the Mayor and Commission could take to move Athens toward having a “halfway adequate” supply of housing. Kinman added that there are ordinances for guest houses, which would open the door to additional housing. One Athenian believed this was not the solution — instead, he thought that this would make homebuyers compete with investors and bring outside developers to Athens.
Work session
During the work session, commissioners discussed affordable housing recommendations, Prince Avenue Corridor improvements and updates on The Classic Center Arena project.
For the ARPA Affordable Housing recommendations, interim Director of Housing and Community Development Andrew Saunders spoke alongside his team to review the application process and funding allocation recommendations.
There were nine projects that were evaluated by both citizens and the housing team. The presenters said they decided to move forward with projects from the Athens Area Habitat for Humanity, Athens Land Trust new construction and repair and the Athens Community Council on Aging.
The Habitat for Humanity project was allocated $1.5 million, the new construction of Athens Land Trust got $2.75 million, and both the repair for Athens Land Trust and the Athens Community Council on Aging were awarded $415,000. According to the Housing and Community Development timeline, they hope to begin work on the projects by summer 2023.
Diana Jackson, John Walker and Jared Draper of Toole Design discussed the pilot project on Prince Avenue that is intended to make travel for pedestrians, bikers and drivers safer and more efficient. The project implemented temporary buffers and new markings on the road, while also conducting studies on the traffic both before and after these installations.
Their studies found that traffic increased in two locations and the average traffic speed decreased. They also gave options for whether the pilot plan would continue and the commissioners gave their input.
“I actually use these lanes several times a week on my commute to and from work and I’ve really, really appreciated the transformation,” said District 3 Commissioner Melissa Link. “Even as a pedestrian crossing Prince Avenue, how much safer it’s made it, having just one lane in either direction.”
Paul Kramer presented on behalf of the Classic Center Arena in which he described changes to the report, alterations of the schematic design, the budget breakdown and answered questions. For the parking deck, there are now 1,000 allocated spaces versus 500, and the arena is fully privately funded. The design will incorporate an additional acre to total 3.065 so the size of the deck is increased.
The next meeting will take place at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 13, at City Hall.
