Augusta commissioners denied a rezoning request Tuesday, Sept. 21 that would have allowed a group home for troubled young men and teens on Rollins Road.
The request had come before the commission with no resolution several times and with opposition from residents of the Rollins Road neighborhood.
MORE: Residents of Rollins Road Neighborhood Up In Arms Over Planned Juvenile Care Home
After two no-action votes Tuesday to approve and deny, commissioners voted 6-4 to deny the request by Margret McKie to rezone 1.84 acres at 4717 Rollins Road. Voting in favor of Commissioner Brandon Garrett’s motion to deny were Garrett and commissioners Catherine McKnight, Alvin Mason, Sean Frantom, Francine Scott and John Clarke.
Garrett’s earlier motion to deny the request failed on a 5-4 vote. Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Williams’ motion to approve the rezoning also failed 4-6, both votes resulting in no-action votes that would have allowed the petition to be brought back before the commission at any time, according to General Counsel Wayne Brown.
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Garrett then moved to reconsider the previous action, which passed 9-1, with only Ben Hasan voting no. Then Garrett moved to deny the petition, but a substitute to approve was voted on first and failed 4-6, after which Garrett’s motion passed.
Residents of the south Richmond County area opposed the home because they believed it could destroy the tranquility of the mainly crime-free area.
Months ago, when residents noticed a rezoning notice in front of a house, they found that the zoning request had been made by Taking A Step Beyond, LLC. The organization had requested to operate an “orphanage home for profit.” The zoning change would allow them to house up to 10 children and young men at the planned Rollins Road facility.
McKie has repeatedly defended “her boys” before the commission. She has said they are good boys who need support and who have been blamed for things they did not do.
In other action, commissioners also voted to bring the Jamestown Community Center back under the purview and governance of the city’s Recreation and Parks Department and enter into updated Memorandums of Understanding with the non-governmental agencies that operate the W.T. Johnson and East View community centers.
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The Jamestown center has been under scrutiny even before this year’s federal indictment of Commissioner Sammie Sias for destroying government documents and lying to federal investigators. Sias was recently removed from the board, and commissioners appointed former Commissioner Alvin Mason to fill the seat until Sias’ case is resolved or his term ends.
Sias ran the Jamestown center for years until he broke up with his former mistress Willa Hilton who also worked at the center, after which she wrote a letter accusing him of pocketing sales tax money, among other misdeeds. Commissioners called in the GBI and the FBI got involved and seized records from Sias residence and the center more than a year ago.
MORE: Commission Vote Deadlocks On Location of South Augusta Group Home
Mason raised the issue of the centers that are operated by non-governmental agencies. He said Tuesday that he was not targeting Jamestown but wanted effective operations in the community centers.
“Parks and Recreation has made recommendations to bring it back in-house,” he said.
Sylvia Cooper is a Correspondent with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com.
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