There are Serious Violations in Selig's Plan, Writer Says

Dear Editor,

Egregious miscarriages of policy & procedure and obscured violations of code have occurred in the planning process for Selig Enterprises' massive downtown development. This not about gigantic, ugly buildings whose primary function is to house 1,000 students while obscuring 1,500 parking spaces, these are perfectly acceptable under ACC code--a clear indication that we need better codes.

Selig redesigned their initial plan not because everyone hated Walmart, but because adopted ACC policy mandates that an extension of Hickory St. run through the property to connect East Broad and Oconee St. and continue on to UGA campus at Thomas St. Policy also mandates that a rail-trail spur from the Firefly trailhead cut across the property and also continue on to cross Oconee St. & adjoin UGA campus at the rail line near the Thomas/Mitchell St. intersection. These corridors are depicted on the Future Transportation Corridors Concept map that is official policy as referenced in ACC Code Section 9-29.

To accommodate these requirements, Selig’s new plan combines both the Hickory St. extension (depicted on the TCC map as a gentle arc across the west end of the property crossing Oconee at the RR overpass) and the rail-trail (depicted on the TCC map as an offshoot from the Firefly trailhead that crosses Oconee just below Hodgson Oil). Their new road is a right-angle cut-through that parallels East Broad & the Firefly Trail. This road would be privately owned by Selig Enterprises, an unprecedented situation in our community that raises serious public access and right-of-way issues.

ACC Planning believes Selig’s plan meets the concept of the TCC map in that it includes a zig-zag ramp access from Firefly across a plaza to meet their Hickory St. extension (a road accommodating sidewalks, on-street parking, bike lanes, two-way auto traffic, and turning lanes). Occasionally, Planning recommends TCC map amendments to be approved by the Mayor & Commission. Several such amendments were approved just a few weeks ago & went into effect June 6, but reconfigurations of the rail-trail & Hickory St. corridors were not among them. If Selig’s plan is to move forward as-is, Planning must first submit recommended TCC map amendments to the Mayor & Commission to be voted on in a public input forum.

In their drastic reinterpretation of the concept of an auto-free, level bike-ped corridor into campus,  ACC Planning did not consult with official advisory bodies that have been making decisions on the rail-trail project since its inception over a decade ago. The Greenway Commission was not asked for input and commissioner Andy Herod has not called a meeting of the Rail-Trail committee in over two years.  $12 million in federal and local SPLOST funds are dedicated to the completion of this trail, yet no mention of input from the SPLOST project manager is included in Planning’s report on Selig’s plan. The abandonment of the fully connective two-corridor concept to accommodate a dog-legged Hickory St. cut-through, whose primary function is to funnel cars in and out of the property, is also in violation of multiple points of ACC’s official Complete Streets Policy.

ACC Planning neglects to address the fact that Selig’s Hickory St. crosses Oconee at a location that neither meets nor approximates the location of either the Hickory St. extension nor the rail-trail spur as indicated on the TCC map. Instead, it crosses at an elevation some 20-30ft lower than either of those crossings. In order for the full concept of a corridor into UGA campus to be fulfilled, it would necessitate some 900 feet of road extension, intense grading & berming, and navigation of steep, cliff-like topography to achieve the concept of a level, bike-friendly direct access to campus.

This completed corridor also runs diagonally through a large UGA property over which ACC has no clear authority to demand right-of-way, especially since it is not included on the TCC map. There is little chance the corridor will ever be properly completed if it is allowed to cross at this location. And if it ever is, it will be at tremendous additional taxpayer expense, either via ACC or UGA.

The Hickory St. corridor depicted on the TCC map is meant to connect the Multimodal Transportation Center to Thomas St., providing a direct access route to the Jackson St. bus bays. It also would help funnel inbound Oconee St. traffic directly onto Thomas St. to access the North Campus parking deck & East Campus Rd. Without such a connection, buses & cars will continue to chug up Oconee & East Broad streets to bottleneck at the five-way intersection with Thomas and then zig-zag through downtown to find left turns onto campus.

Ongoing apartment tower construction is bringing several thousand additional student residents to live in and around this area (downtown, E. Broad, Carr’s Hill, East Athens, North Ave.) and each is allotted on-site parking. With no level, direct access to campus, students are given little incentive to choose to walk or bike and are more likely to hop in their conveniently parked cars for quick trips into campus or across downtown—a likelihood that will only exacerbate current clogged traffic conditions. The proper completion of the Hickory St. extension and the rail-trail campus connection are essential to relieving current and future transportation problems.