A historic city fire station will be demolished after an Augusta Commission committee voted to reject plans to save it and uphold the wishes of the Laney-Walker area Tuesday.
The station sits at the corner of Dyess Park and long served as the park’s community center. It was targeted for demolition to make way for green space and a gazebo in a park master plan approved by the commission in 2023.
Two area groups, Historic Augusta and Augusta Epic, proposed to save the station and convert it to commercial spaced, but their proposal was rejected Tuesday.
City officials cited community meetings with the Laney-Walker Neighborhood Association in which residents preferred to see the building torn down.
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One of the project’s managers, consultant Abie Ladson, said the neighborhood wants the building gone.
“The overwhelming majority of the neighborhood wanted that building demoed,” he said.
Commissioner Jordan Johnson said the city had put the recreation project on hold to hear the proposal, while the neighborhood’s wishes are clear.
The building’s top floor is falling in and creating a huge safety hazard, he said.
“The community is asking for this. They have been begging for something they can be proud of,” Commissioner Francine Scott said.
Historic Augusta Executive Director Erick Montgomery said while the groups submitted the proposal more than a year ago and paid a $5,000 fee, they never got an answer until learning of Tuesday’s meeting.
Augusta Epic’s Tobin Hagler said his firm had converted several historic businesses, including a church and a barber shop in the nearby area.
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“What makes Augusta and our downtown amazing are these types of old buildings. Even when they are not suited for modern purpose, they can still be turned into something else,” he said. “To bulldoze a historic 130-year-old fire station just to put a gazebo in its place just doesn’t seem like a great idea,” he said.
The city’s Administrative Services committee voted to reject the proposal and heed the neighborhood’s wishes.
“What you have in plan doesn’t represent what the people want,” Commissioner Wayne Guilfoyle said, suggesting the groups be refunded the $5,000 fee.
On a motion from Commissioner Tony Lewis with a second from Commissioner Don Clark, the committee voted 4-0 to reject the proposal.
In another matter, the commission voted after a closed-door session to extend the contract with Interim General Counsel Jim Plunkett and his law firm for another month. The commission took no action toward hiring a permanent general counsel, for which it released finalist names last week.
