Plans to relocate residents of an east Augusta housing project to Baker Avenue are drawing questions from existing residents.
The proposal, included in Augusta’s “Choice Neighborhood” federal grant application, relocates approximately 388 residents of Allen Homes, a 1961 housing project off Laney Walker Blvd., to a new location.
Residents would move to a proposed development at the site of the 1934 Lamar Elementary School at 970 Baker Ave., deemed surplus by the school district.
The plan hinges on a detailed case study of Allen Homes, a housing project sandwiched between Gordon Highway and rail lines on the city’s east side.
Respondent households had a median age of 14 and median income of $9,528. Unemployment was at 8.2%. Residents surveyed said there are no grocery stores or parks in the area.
The target site, located across Baker Avenue from the Academy of Richard County, a public high school, has no nearby grocery or parks either.
David Dunagan, an ARC grad with three children at the high school, spoke out against the plan at last week’s meeting of the school board.
Dunagan said Allen Homes residents will bring whatever problems they are having to the new site.
“Bringing mass housing into an old, established single-family neighborhood and putting it literally in front of a thriving high school can bring with it problems,” he said.
Moreover, the plan appears to contradict the existing ARC master plan, which called for putting new ROTC and athletic facilities at the Lamar site, he said.
Susan McCord is a staff writer with The Augusta Press. Reach her at susan@theaugustapress.com
