A group personal-care home for troubled boys and young men won’t be operating in the Rollins Road area anytime soon.
At the end of a lengthy and emotional discussion about rezoning 4717 Rollins Rd. from agricultural to multiple family residential, Augusta commissioners voted 6-3-1 to deny the request. Commissioners John Clarke, Sean Frantom, Brandon Garrett, Catherine McKnight, Sammie Sias and Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Williams voted for denial, and commissioners Ben Hasan and Jordan Johnson voted against the motion. Commissioner Francine Scott abstained.
Charles Rollins, an attorney hired to speak for Donald Day and other residents of the Rollins Road neighborhood, said he’d submitted a stack of police reports concerning the home at its present location at 1509 Brown Rd., calls about runaways and children in the road.
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Rollins also said the proposed new location was next to a large timber tract where people hunted which also raised concerns. He asked commissioners to deny the request.
Margaret McKie, part-owner of Taking a Step Beyond LLC, the entity which operates the home, took exception to the police reports Rollins referenced. She said the children in the home were not involved in the sort of crimes Rollins mentioned.
She said the children had had trauma in their lives such as sexual or physical abuse.
“My kids are everyday kids,” she said. “We have runaways. They’re allowed to take a walk. They have three hours. If they stay beyond that, I have to call the police. … We have wonderful young men. One just won an award and a $2,500 scholarship.”
Oscar Reid, who lives across the road from the proposed group home said the neighborhood is quiet and they wanted to keep it that way.
“It’s our space,” he said. “It’s our privacy. It’s our safety We’re keeping it peaceful out there. Kids get bored in a facility. They walk up and down the street. … I hope you vote to keep our neighborhood safe. I hope you give this some thought and keep criminals out of there.”
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Before making a motion to deny the zoning petition, Commissioner Sammie Sias said he knew the kids need somewhere to go. However, putting the home in that neighborhood was a “very volatile mix.”
Mayor Hardie Davis spoke in support of approving the request, as did Richmond County Juvenile Court Judge Amanda Heath.
“These are everyday teenagers,” she said. “I understand the objections, but I haven’t seen a police report.”
Heath also said, “This is a state facility with an A-plus rating.”
Davis said commissioners had an opportunity to help those children and that rejecting them would create additional trauma in their lives.
Commissioner Jordan Johnson said he felt there was fearmongering going on. He said he knew a majority of the youth in the group home.
“They’re not what we’re classifying them as today,” he said.
Johnson asked his colleagues to have a heart and understand that the home was a life changing facility.
Sylvia Cooper is a Correspondent with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com
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