Augusta Commissioners remain deadlocked on whether to allow a controversial South Augusta group foster home for young men and boys to operate on Rollins Road.
Margaret McKie, part owner of Taking a Step Beyond LLC, has tried since February to move her current group home, located at 1509 Brown Rd., to the location at 4717 Rollins Rd.
Residents living in the neighborhood signed a petition in February stating that they did not want the home to relocate to their area because it has had problems with the law in the past.
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Doug Day, whose property abuts the proposed foster home, produced multiple police reports citing drug use, trespassing and even home invasions.
“We’re not being stone-hearted,” Day said. “This is a commercial orphanage, not a non-profit group fostering kids. It’s a for profit business.”
Fellow resident, Michael Nothdurft, agreed, saying that McKie and her husband do not live at the foster home but rather have employees who are charged with looking after the young boys and men.
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“She lives in Mill Haven in Columbia County. If a commercial orphanage is such a good idea, why isn’t she proposing putting it in her neighborhood?” Nothdurft asked.
McKie admits that there have been problems in the past, but says her current crop of fosters are good kids.
“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.”
Under questioning from commissioners, McKie also clarified what she meant by the term “foster kids.” The Obama administration changed foster age requirements so as to allow people to remain in foster care until age 21 as long as they are employed, in college or both.
Nine members of the Rollins Road community showed up at Tuesday’s commission meeting and five people, along with McKie, came to support the foster home.
District Four Commissioner Sammie Sias, who did not support allowing the home to move to Rollins Road, stated for the record that McKie should have engaged the residents before buying the land and then asking for a zoning change. McKie said that she did invite the residents but only two people showed up to her open house.
The residents say otherwise, that McKie only posted a small sign off her property and did not send out any invitations to anyone in the neighborhood.
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Resident Svetlana Day says she has researched and discovered there is little to no oversight on commercial orphanages.
“No one is responsible. No one is checking on it. They just give out a certificate and then take her at her word,” Day said.
In the meeting, two motions were made, one to allow and a substitute motion to deny. Both motions failed. Each motion failed 5 – 4 – 1, and the lone abstention in each vote prevented the mayor from breaking a tie.
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McKie indicated she would invite commissioners out to her property to meet her “kids,” before filing for a reconsideration.
Meanwhile, the residents said they will continue to fight to keep their neighborhood safe and quiet.
“This is just a bad fit,” Nothdurft said. “She needs to find another location. No one, not one resident is for having this home in our neighborhood.
McKie does not have to wait the normal six month period before placing the matter back before the commission.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com.
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