A revitalization plan for South Turpin Hill aims to transform the historic neighborhood with new housing and infrastructure while attempting to protect longtime residents from displacement.
The South Turpin Hill Revitalization Plan, expected to go before the Augusta Commission Tuesday, lays out 10 “big ideas” to guide the effort, one of which is well underway: Redevelopment of the Dogwood Terrace housing project into a larger mixed-income community with apartments and greenspace similar to Walton Acres or Walton Green.
The plan calls for creating a land trust or allowing Augusta, Georgia Land Bank Authority to act as one to build affordable housing in the area and keep property taxes and resale prices low. Last week the land bank approved depository agreements with Augusta Habitat for Humanity for 17 parcels.
The area has received more than $3 million in federal grant funds to remove lead from homes. It’s also a study area for the Georgia Initiative for Community Housing, which is expected to present an update Tuesday.
Sometimes known as the Avenues, the area is bisected by Grand Boulevard and bounded by Molly Pond Road, Old Savannah Road, Olive Road and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. It’s home to the Carrie J. Mays recreational sites and the Walker Group is planning a residential development called Walker Village that includes 14 single-family homes on a vacant tract at 1924 Grand Blvd.
In other business Tuesday, Commissioner Francine Scott has called for discussion of the resolution that created Augusta’s Charter Review Committee.
Community members have raised questions about who wrote the resolution, because it appears to bypass the commission and send committee recommendations directly to the legislature. Scott pressed for answers as to its author earlier this month.
Interim General Counsel Jim Plunkett later responded that the resolution was created by the mayor’s office using language supplied by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government. The commission hired the institute to help with the charter review.
“It is my understanding that the Vinson Institute provided a draft resolution and possibly examples of resolutions from other jurisdictions to the mayor’s office,” Plunkett said in an email to commissioners obtained by The Augusta Press. “The mayor’s office used this information and possible other examples to cut and paste to create the resolution that was approved by the commission.”
Also going before the full commission Tuesday is discussion, postponed from last week, of a plan to potentially add more parking spaces to the downtown streetscape effort underway in response to community concerns.
The commission also is set to approve a construction contract with Chaplin & Sons Clearing & Demolition, Inc. to install emergency temporary structural shoring at the Highland Avenue Water Treatment Plant’s east filter building.
The shoring is needed while officials determine a path forward after consultant Ardurra found deficiencies during a June structural assessment, according to the agenda item. Chaplin’s work will cost $59,765.
