You may or may not be familiar with the renovated church at the corner of Boulevard and Chase St., but the tense debate between developers and neighbors continues as the building sits unused.
Ace local government reporter
Blake Aued updates the situation in today's paper (Sat. Sept. 6).
Local developers Patrick O'Brien and John LaFlamme renovated the church in 2006 and asked for permission to turn the building into a business. But they met stiff resistance from residents who feared traffic, noise and gentrification.
Both sides agreed to a specific set of plans that include a small parking lot, a rain garden, landscaping and a green buffer along the property line. The developers also said they wouldn't turn the church into a restaurant, bakery, day-care center, mortuary, convenience store or adult bookstore - all uses that residents said might disrupt the neighborhood.
The agreement was "a very hard-fought compromise over an issue that was very divisive for our neighborhood," Boulevard resident Matt Elliott told planners Thursday, urging them to limit what the building can be used for.
The rezoning is scheduled to expire next month unless the county commission extends it for another two years.
Though I wish that a restaurant, a cafe or some other social life oriented business would open in this location, I respect the neighbor's fears as to what would happen to their quality of life if they lived next to a business that stayed open late into the night.
Chase and Boulevard is already a busy corridor; it's stuffed with cars Monday through Friday as it shuffles commuters from surrounding counties to their University and hospital jobs. I don't believe that a new business- sharing an intersection with a gas station, a mechanic and a church- will make traffic and noise problems any worse. Of course, the homes next to the possible restaurant are probably more concerned with late night music and noise from foot traffic.
But with the newly renovated Chase St. school bustling, filling the sidewalks with parents and kids coming to and from school, the Boulevard area is becoming a prime example of what is lacking in Athens- honest to goodness neighborhoods. Areas where school, church, commerce and social life are within close proximity (meaning bike-able or walkable) to the home.
A restaurant or other similar business would be a wonderful addition.
But this is somewhat moot. Local government, developers and neighborhood reps have figured out a balance between quality of life and good business, so it's a matter of time before something opens up.
What's amusing to me-or probably just confusing because I haven't spoken directly to an angry resident- is the fear of gentrification supposedly expressed by the Boulevardians, as written in the
Banner-Herald story.
My definition of gentrification may be wrong (check out this
article), but it seems hard to gentrify a 90 percent white neighborhood where home prices exceed $300,000. There's little in the neighborhood in need of repair and many lots have undergone massive restoration.
Anyone wish to argue or clarify?
I love Boulevard. I'm jealous of its tree-lined beauty and someday hope to live in such a neighborhood.
Actually, I don't wish to live there at all. I'm happy in West Hancock, a neighborhood that I'm currently gentrifying whether I like it or not. Go figure.
