SAVE THE LAND USE PLAN
Rally and March Tuesday, Nov. 14th

photos by Jonlyn Freeman

About 100 residents of Athens-Clarke County turned out on Tuesday, Nov. 14 for AGGC's rally and march on City Hall to express their willingness to help the ACC Commission develop a zoning ordinance that will protect greenspace and prevent urban sprawl. Despite the chilly temperatures, the crowd stayed to listen to speakers discuss our concerns about the zoning ordinance the Commission plans to vote on Dec. 5. Nancy Stangle of Athens Land Trust spoke about the lack of Transferable Development Rights as a detriment to maintaining affordable housing; Jason Henderson of BikeAthens addressed transportation issues; and Andrew Hinerfeld, a Clarke County organic farmer, spoke about preserving greenspace through keeping agriculture a viable option. Beth Gavrilles presented AGGC's position on the proposed ordinance: that it should not be approved in its current form. It is not a compromise between the Comprehensive Land Use Plan and current zoning, and in fact will do a worse job at preventing sprawl than even current zoning does. Read the AGGC position statement, and a point-by-point comparison between the proposed ordinance and the Comprehensive Land Use Plan. AGGC then presented the names of all the rally participants who volunteered to help work on improving the ordinance to Mayor Doc Eldridge and Commissioners John Barrow and Tom Chasteen.