The Augusta Commission took action against a troubled Broad Street restaurant, delayed two Sand Hills road closures, tapped the brakes on a subsidized housing development and more during meetings Tuesday that included about five hours behind closed doors.
Tiffany’s gets probation, earlier hours
The commission agreed to suspend the Sunday Sales license, limit operating hours and place on probation for six months the alcohol license of Tiffany’s Eatery, a Broad Street restaurant targeted by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office for violating numerous license regulations.
Sheriff Gino Brantley said he recently met with Tiffany’s owners and believes the recommendations will address ongoing issues while allowing the venue to remain in business. Tiffany’s hadn’t had any noticeable problems until this year, when it obtained licenses to serve alcohol on Sunday and stay open later, resulting in a sharp uptick in incidents, the sheriff said.
Deputies investigating Tiffany’s over the last few months found numerous violations reported to commissioners at earlier meetings. They included serving alcohol after hours, allowing smoking indoors, charging a cover to supplement food sales totals, using a DJ and dance floor without a dance hall license, attracting fights and lying to investigators.
Owner Florence Henley of Fort Lauderdale and owner’s agent Alpha Louis said they agreed to the restrictions, which include closing at 2:30 a.m. weekdays and 2 a.m. Sunday morning.
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Commissioner Alvin Mason said Tiffany’s was getting another chance. The sheriff’s office previously sought harsher penalties. Mason cautioned the venue not to claim it had no control over its patrons. “You’re accountable for your business,” Mason said. The vote to approve, made by Commissioner Catherine Smith Rice, passed 11-0.
Sand Hills road closures on hold
After extensive discussion, a vote to abandon two sections of road in the Sand Hills community failed 4-5-2, giving parties the opportunity to meet additionally with Sand Hills residents. Mayor Garnett Johnson and Rice abstained from voting as members of Augusta Country Club, which requested the road closures.
Club President Matt Mills said the Johns Road section to be abandoned sits at the “end of our driving range” and had seen houses and cars hit by golf balls. The club intends to construct a new road between Fitten and Gardner streets, to include 10 parking spaces for the Fitten Street cemetery, and beautify the area, he said. “We want to be good neighbors,” he said.
Commissioner Francine Scott said it was important that neighbors, particularly those in adjacent homes, be included in the conversation. This is so “when you’re taking some of the community away, we have documentation that everybody who is involved is involved,” she said.
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Commissioner Jordan Johnson said there were “a lot of unanswered questions” that needed to be discussed with the Sand Hills Neighborhood Association. Sand Hills homeowner Martha Ramsey, who addressed the commission, said the neighborhood is unlikely to support closing the roads.
Cemetery historian Joyce Law noted that the Sand Hills district is on the national historic register and the cemetery is the resting place of two sisters who grew up in the community and served in World War II. “Sand Hills is just replete with all these historical stories,” she said. Losing parts of the neighborhood will put its historic designation at risk, Law said.
Support for Villages at Meadowbrook letters fails
In the most-discussed item of the day, the commission’s vote to approve letters of support for the Villages of Meadowbrook Phase II, a mixed-income senior complex sponsored by the Augusta Housing Authority, failed 5-6 with Mayor Johnson voting in favor.
A group of homeowners led by DaCara Brown Myers, president of the Hamptons Homeowners Association, is vehemently opposed to the development, which is going in immediately adjacent to the Hamptons, she said. Myers called any notice advertised by the housing authority a “legal fiction,” as the area the community knows as Meadowbrook is actually two miles away.
Twenty-one years ago the Hamptons was advertised as a Blanchard and Calhoun subdivision, and is now populated by professionals, retired military and similar, she said. Her neighbors were surprised to find during Masters Week blue tape marking off an area where work on the complex was starting. The neighborhood, which has one way in and one way out, had not been notified with a sign or other indication of the authority’s plans, she said.
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“We’ve had some very pointed disruptions to the properties,” Myers said. “We’re asking you all not to support it.”
Commissioner Don Clark, who indicated deep concerns, said the process had involved several “missteps.” He apologized to neighborhood residents, saying, “You all should have been communicated to correctly.”
Douglas Freeman, deputy executive director of Augusta Housing Authority, said the legal ad contained an address of 3255 Deans Bridge Road. Freeman said the authority had gone through all the notice requirements, and since no rezoning was required, no zoning placards went up.
The address is for the south end of the authority’s 19-acre tract, which is on the opposite side of Deans Bridge Road from the area known as Meadowbrook. Mason called the name, Villages at Meadowbrook, “disingenuous,” adding, “it ain’t even close to Meadowbrook.”
Shauntia Lewis, interim director of Housing and Community Development said her department sought the support letters for the authority as a member of a local housing coalition but had no “weigh-in as a department.”
Jordan Johnson asked whether the housing authority’s board of directors had any oversight on the development. Freeman said the board has “oversight and approval of any initiative like this.”
Mayor Johnson, whose duties as mayor include appointing housing authority board members, said he believes Walton Communities has done good work on other developments such as Walton Oaks and Walton Green.
The Walton complexes are an improvement from the former housing project properties – Sunset and Underwood homes – that formerly occupied them, he said. Principals from Walton are developing the Villages at Meadowbrook properties, according to the agenda request.
“I’m looking for us to get a heck of a lot better communication across the board,” Clark said.
Without the letters of support, the project will lose points on its low-income housing tax credit application, which may or may not result in the loss of tax credits for the project, Freeman said.
Weed School redevelopment loan passes
In an agenda addition, the commission unanimously approved Augusta Housing and Community Development loaning $800,000 in American Rescue Plan grant funds to developers Woda Cooper and Parallel Housing, which are building subsidized housing at the former Weed School. The loan allows the plan to be a Georgia Department of Community Affairs low-income housing tax credit project.
Jordan Johnson said the plan follows “extensive meetings with the neighborhood” and represents “the largest investment of dollars in the Sand Hills community in a very long time.” Community members met Monday and agreed to the plan, he said.
The $16 million project will include 40 units of affordable housing that is general occupancy and not age-restricted. It will preserve a historic property, and rents based on area median income will range from $390 to just over $1,000 per month, Johnson said.
Asked why the city paid $1.3 million for the Weed property, Lewis said it is owned by the Augusta Georgia Land Bank Authority.
Preliminary financial report reveals fund balances
In a late item, Interim Finance Director Tim Schroer presented the city’s 2024 preliminary financial report.
The city’s general fund is down $15.5 million due to unreimbursed Hurricane Helene expenses, Schroer said, but expects much of that to be reimbursed during 2025. The good news was that GEMA had issued the city a $16.4 million reimbursement check Tuesday, he said.
The city’s fire protection, water and sewer, waste management and Augusta Regional Airport funds all had increased, with the funds designated for capital projects, he said. In addition, stormwater utility fee collections were up about $600,000, and sales tax collections were up, his presentation showed.
As the budget process approaches, the city will have to deal with a $903,000 streetlight fee deficit and a $103,700 shortfall in garbage collection, Schroer said.
The city has been awarded $82.3 million in American Rescue Plan funds, which has covered revenue replacement in the amount of $7.4 million and various personnel, capital and infrastructure spending, leaving an unspent balance of $11.5 million, according to Schroer’s report.
Juneteenth MOU approved
In another agenda addition, the commission approved a five-year memorandum of understanding with the Band of Brothers organization to sponsor a Juneteenth celebration for $20,000 annually, and to reimburse the group for 2024 expenses. Both passed unanimously.
The MOU agreement predates the commission’s decision to fund a Destination Augusta account to supply grants for downtown events, Administrator Tameka Allen said.
Closed-door session results in little open action
Commissioners spent about five hours behind closed doors Tuesday, first at a called noon meeting then in an additional legal session at the end of the 2 p.m. regular meeting. They discussed the hire of a general counsel, as Interim General Counsel Jim Plunkett was sent out of the meeting, and other matters, but took no action afterward besides approving a lease for the UGA Extension office.
