Approval of a $1.9 million outlay of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding for a workforce development program spearheaded by the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce wasn’t the only action taken in the economic development arena this month by Athens-Clarke County commissioners.
Commissioners recently allocated nearly $2 million in coronavirus recovery dollars to the Athens Achieves effort to prepare and link jobseekers for opportunities in industries being targeted by local economic development efforts. They also voted unanimously to expand the areas in which scientific research and development enterprises can be located.
Commissioners unanimously approved a change to the local zoning ordinance that now will allow such enterprises to occupy space in areas zoned for commercial-office (C-O) and commercial-neighborhood (C-N) uses.
The request to amend the zoning ordinance came from the county’s Economic Development Department.
According to Ilka McConnell, the economic development director, there is a scarcity of office space for science and research enterprises ready to move out of incubation at the University of Georgia. At the same time, according to McConnell, there is a significant amount of office space appropriate for those enterprises in the county’s C-O and C-N zones.
In arguing for the text amendment, Commissioner Mike Hamby called it “a good opportunity for us to work with our Economic Development Department.”
In other zoning-related action at their June 6 meeting, commissioners approved special-use permits to allow substance abuse recovery residences for women at 129 Peach St., near Hawthorne Avenue and West Broad Street, and at 1005 Henderson Extension, off Baxter Street near St. Mary’s Hospital.
Women in the residences work outside the homes and also have housekeeping duties as part of their recovery programs.
There was some dissent, with Commissioner Patrick Davenport at one point suggesting that his commission colleagues might not look so favorably on the special-use permits if they were for residences in Cedar Creek or other well-established residential subdivisions.
On the other side of the issue, Commissioners Jesse Houle and Carol Myers, a resident of the Green Acres subdivision near Cedar Creek, suggested that areas in which recovery residences are allowed should be expanded.
“I do feel like recovery houses should be allowed everywhere,” Houle said, as Myers suggested a need for the commission to “review and broaden the areas where we allow halfway houses.”
In other action, commissioners unanimously approved amendments to the county code dealing with control of invasive plant species. The amended ordinance dramatically expands the local list of invasive species to include kudzu, golden bamboo, Bradford pear trees, mimosa, English ivy, and Chinese wisteria.
The amended ordinance requires property owners who have invasive species on their property to take steps to keep them from spreading, or to at least attempt to keep them from spreading, to neighboring properties or onto public rights of way.
The amended ordinance will be enforced by complaint only, meaning that Athens-Clarke County code officers won’t actively look for violations, but will respond to calls about proliferations of invasive species. Any pre-existing proliferations of invasive species won’t be covered by the ordinance amendments.
Commissioners will review the issue after the amendments have been in effect for a year to determine whether any adjustments may be needed.
Also, Mayor Kelly Girtz said he and the commission will be back in City Hall for their July 16 agenda-setting meeting.
Commissioners have been meeting at Clarke County School District headquarters for the past several weeks while security improvements are being made at City Hall. The improvements, including a police presence whenever City Hall is open and security wand screening of people entering the building, were prompted by recent verbal outbursts at commission meetings.
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