Mayor Ed Johnson wants new building as ‘city center’ modeled after Riverdale
The idea to expand Fayetteville’s downtown area received significant attention at the City Council retreat held March 11 in the old courthouse. Heading the list of top priorities determined by the council was the “Downtown Master Plan” to include a mix of retail, office and residential in a 75-acre area just east of downtown.
Expected to be up for a vote in April, the council generated a priority list topped by the expanded downtown area.
During discussion late Friday afternoon, all the City Council expressed a united front for moving forward with the plan.
“I may not get re-elected, but this issue is too important,” said Councilman Scott Stacy.
Mayor Ed Johnson agreed, and said the city hall area should be more of a city center. He cited Riverdale’s city hall that overlooks a small amphitheater as an example the council could examine.
The council said the city hall could serve as a catalyst for development. While no price tag has been attached to the building, a variety of funding options, such as a private-public partnership, a SPLOST or increasing the millage rate, were discussed.
The remaining priority items on the list included an arts center that might take over the current city hall if a replacement facility is constructed in the downtown expansion, a downtown office center with possible TAD (Tax Allocation District) funding, a two-year technical college and infrastructure needs.
The council prior to establishing the priorities list were engaged in a number of activities led by facilitator Jay Garner of Atlanta-based Garner Economics.
The council was joined by city staff department heads for the daylong meeting. An afternoon session included an exercise that asked what examples of 2017 news headlines might be, the request to arrive at two achievable goals for 2017 and a list of what impediments to growth might include along, with possible solutions for achieving established goals.
Potential headlines for 2017 were posed by the entire group of council and staff and included a wide-ranging variety of topics such as Fayetteville being a catalyst for county growth, post-secondary education booming in Fayetteville, a creative arts center or district coming to the city, the establishment of a business incubator, the completion of the Ga. Highway 92/Hood Avenue transportation project, a new location for city hall and the operation an inter-city trolley.
The council then narrowed the long list down to goals that might be achieved next year and discussed impediments to those goals. City staff also provided input in the discussion.
Council members near the end of the exercise placed dots next to the items that had been recorded on large sheets of paper and affixed to the wall.
The downtown master plan envisions the transformation of approximately 75 acres stretching from the east side of downtown, the site of the current Fayette County Board of Education property, to Grady Avenue and over to Ga. Highway 54.
The area would be the site of retail and office space near where the school board central office is located, with multi-family and more office and perhaps an arts center and city hall in areas further off the street. The single-family home property, by far the largest area of land, would be positioned along portions of Grady Avenue.
There are other downtown areas in the conceptual plan. Among those are finding a use for the city hall building with the idea of moving operations a couple of blocks to the west and having Fayette County offices relocate somewhere other than the center of downtown. If receptive at all, the idea of moving county offices is up to the Fayette County Commission.
The master plan also includes the utilization of other spaces or the construction of new space, down Ga. Highway 85 south to Grady Avenue.
The city has talked about including funds for a new city hall and some new master plan area streets in a potential special purpose local options sales tax (SPLOST) initiative that may or may not be approved for the November ballot. If approved for the ballot, Fayetteville would be joined by the county and the other cities with their projects which would require voter approval.
Beyond the revenues a SPLOST could generate, the great bulk of the downtown expansion will depend on the desire of a developer to put up the funds needed to bring the plan to life.
— John Thompson contributed additional reporting to the story.
