A proposal to redevelop the Historic Iron Triangle Plaza in East Athens has ignited debate over zoning, favoritism, and fears of gentrification.
Local restaurateur and Farm to Neighborhood director Rashe Malcolm wants to amend the 1996 Planned Development for the plaza at 585 Vine Street. Her nonprofit’s plan would remove ten parking spaces to add green space, a teaching garden, ADA-accessible sidewalks, and an indoor teaching kitchen. Malcolm says the project would give neighborhood youth gardening and cooking skills to use at home or in business.
But critics argue the changes risk fueling displacement.
“Today it’s a teaching kitchen and a garden. Tomorrow it could be apartments, student housing, higher land values, and families priced out,” said Dr. Cshanyse Allen, president of the Inner East Athens Neighborhood Association. She urged using an existing garden behind the plaza instead of altering the Planned Development.
Mounting tensions
Tensions rose during the Aug. 19 Athens-Clarke County Commission meeting when District 6 Commissioner Stephanie Johnson pressed Malcolm about past projects and questioned Farm to Neighborhood’s reported food distribution.
Johnson also raised concerns about the nonprofit’s ties to project engineers and asked why Mayor Kelly Girtz’s office had signed a recent check to the nonprofit. Girtz cut off the line of questioning, prompting pushback from Johnson and others.
The mayor later clarified that the $1,250 check came from his Community Improvement Program Fund, which provides small grants to nonprofits. He said the money supported a back-to-school event on August 2 and defended his decision to limit debate, citing zoning rules.
“Particularly around a zoning item in Georgia, it’s important to focus on the physical contours of the site,” Girtz said. His office added that commission rules allow him to suspend irrelevant debate and maintain decorum.
Dr. Allen says she and other Inner East Athens residents want their community to be invested in and beautified.
“When you go across the city and you see flowers, tulips, and daisies lining the communities, we don’t have that. But we pay the same taxes,” she said.
Still, neighbors are concerned about the long-term effects of the proposed project.
“We’re losing our identity as a community,” Allen said. “The community has to be involved and engaged, and that piece did not occur.”
The Athens-Clarke County Commission is expected to vote on the Iron Triangle amendment in early September.
This article is based on reporting by Emma Auer of WUGA News
