Architects developing a citywide master plan stretching from south Augusta to west Augusta to downtown got their first earful from the general public Thursday.
About 100 people -- many of them elected officials and department heads -- attended a forum at Augusta State University's Christenberry Field House. Among the sentiments expressed: the corridor roadways are ugly; the bus system leaves much to be desired; landlords and renters are dragging down neighborhoods; and Augusta is missing out on opportunities to capitalize off its riverfront and the legacy of James Brown.
The meeting was put on by SheildsDESIGN LLC, whose president John Shields, was hired by the Augusta Commission to assemble the plan for $498,000. Mr. Shields, formerly a principal partner with Boston-based ICON Architecture Inc., put together the downtown master plan unveiled earlier this year.
Thursday's crowd broke up into six discussion groups and compiled ideas on flip chart pages.
In the Economic Development group, Tom Swift, of the Forest Hills neighborhood, made a suggestion that had a lot of heads nodding: raze the levee. The idea came up last year in a public input session on the downtown plan, which wound up including a break in the levee but not eliminating it.
Mr. Swift said Augusta could have shops and restaurants directly on the river, as in San Antonio, Texas.
"We've got a much better river here, and we're not taking advantage of it," he said.
Other ideas floated:
- Create a major medical complex at Regency Mall
- Build a James Brown attraction similar to Graceland in Memphis, Tenn.
- Promote Augusta's reputation as a college town
- Widen Wrightsboro Road from Augusta Mall westward
- Clear litter and overgrown vegetation from corridor highways
- Have gateway entrances looking as nice as they do in North Augusta
- Build a light passenger rail to Atlanta and Columbia.
- Make Augusta's transit system more user-friendly
- Turn unused railroad tracks into hiking/biking/jogging trails
- Pass an ordinance to make absentee landlords more accountable
- Demolish houses that can't be saved
"We find this process very, very useful, and it influences what we do in a dramatic way," said ICON architect Jon Lane, who is assisting Mr. Shields, as is Georgia Tech's College of Architecture.
Mr. Shields said a second public input session will be held Sept. 3, but the time and place haven't been determined.
The final plan is expected to be unveiled in late July 2010.
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This is a stupid waste of taxpayer money. Augusta already has a masterplan, which has been presented to the Commission and accepted. It is called Destination 2020. Hundreds of people from around the community invested countless hours in developing this plan. Neighborhood meetings were held with citizens throughout Augusta. Why not use this plan as a starting point at the very least????
huh, no ones asking for a ballpark downtown i see.
Please take just a few seconds to do some research before you criticize something you don't truly understand. The master plan you referenced is for the downtown and riverfront portions of Augusta and North Augusta. The meeting last night was a preliminary input session for the master plan that will cover the rest of Richmond County. Creating an exhaustive master plan for the core and completely ignoring the rest of the city would be worse than no plan at all. It would be like building a house without a driveway.
Games, Games, Games. Post it notes on the wall, catagorize them, brain storm ideas, everything is valued, separate in thought groups. Let the lesson of divide and conquer begin. There is a master plan and all of the brain storming will lead to it. The plan is to collect money and not do anything productive. Talk and Balk. Typical "Management Textbook Seminar". I bet there was lots of food. The groups changed rooms about every hours between breaks. And WOW, a concensus was reached. Now the county government does what it planned to do in the beginning.
I like the plan to raze the Levee, if the dam makes us safe then lets open it up and utilize the riverfront.
You folks are very enthusiastic. NOT! Why does everything have to be a waste of time and taxpayer money with you people? Go to the next meeting and voice your concerns about waste there. Otherwise, if you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem. Even if you are a law abiding citizen who takes care of your property, you are still part of the problem if you don't see a need to improve the rest of the city; or, if you see a need but don't like any suggestions and can't come up with any of your own. You are part of the the problem!
All they had to do is read this blog, for free, and that tells you right there what needs to be fixed in Augusta.
Corgimom, I don't think much will get fixed in Augusta. Ignorance can be fixed, but stupidity lasts forever.
I was present at the meeting and I felt it to be very productive. There was not a lot of food, only cookies and brownies, different kinds of sodas, lemonade and water. We were given a 20 minute synopsis of why we were asked to come, then we broke down into groups for about 35 minutes and brainstormed on what we felt was necessary for the entire city to move forward and become a main corridor. Afterwards, we chose the ideas that we liked the best and presented them to the group as a whole. Johnny only briefly touched on each group's ideas. If you read yesterdays's Across the Area, you will see all the groups we broke down into. It is the first of two meetings, the next of which will occur in two weeks. I plan to be there because I think our city is worth the time and money. After all, we do live here, work here, and pay taxes here. By the way, thank you, KingJames, for calling down the naysayers. It does seem that those who do not attend the meetings are the loudest complainers.
You are not safe, Big Vike.