City Councilman Wants to See Old Granite Hotel Site as Green Space

• Who met: Winder Downtown Development Authority
• Where:
• When: Tuesday, July 19, 2011
• Who was present: Committee members Jerry Maynard, Mace Strickland, Sherry Miller, Chairman Mike Rice and City Councilman Bob Dixon, Planning Director Barry Edgar, City Finance Director Leslie Henderson and city employee Ambrose Jackson
• Top business:

Bob Dixon, a Winder city councilman and downtown development authority committee member, opened Tuesday’s meeting by calling his fellow authority members to action.

Dixon attended the Georgia Municipal Association’s annual conference in Savannah the last weekend in June. The conference focused on a new plan and new purpose for downtown development authorities across the state.

Dixon explained the recommendations of the Special Downtown Development Task Force, co-chaired by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, to the authority. The task force laid out a plan to redefine, invest and strengthen downtown areas in a commitment to excellence throughout the state.

Dixon focused on redefining the DDA’s goals for the city of Winder from a focus of “historic preservation into inviting new businesses.” The goal of the task force is to make downtown development “significantly larger than Main Street. It needs to embrace incoming corridors, parks, walking trails, schools, churches and neighboring residential areas” to “support sustained economic growth.”

Dixon said the task force’s concept is to “develop a culture, a different young-people’s society, where all the needs of living are combined in the downtown area.”

The Special Downtown Development Task Force will select 20 to 25 cities to be a part of a pilot program testing their recommendations. According to Dixon, the program will have a budget of $200,000 per year for consultants, education, direction and planning.

To be eligible to participate in the program, Dixon said the authority must develop a five-year plan that the community will support to take blighted areas, unoccupied buildings and unattractive streets and revitalize them.

In combination with current programs, such as Streetscape and on-going façade projects, Dixon proposed taking new opportunities, such as revitalizing the space where the Old Granite Hotel stands, to match the state’s objectives.

“I will work twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week, we’re not gonna make a parking lot out of (the Old Granite Hotel) space," he said. "That is going to be a green space.”

Dixon proposed inviting Fanning Institute Director Danny Bivens and Municipal Consultant Becky Taylor to help the authority develop a master plan to bring these things together.

“We need to get our best thinking on the table,” Dixon said. “We need to utilize our unity to do this. We want to be ready and we want to be selected.”

Other business:

• The authority voted to request an amendment be placed on the city council's agenda to allow the remaining 2011 budget that expired June 30 to transfer to the 2012 budget. The balance of $23,295.54 was allocated to fund façade projects for downtown Winder businesses. Financial director Leslie Henderson agreed to draw up the amendment and present it to the council for consideration.
• Chairman Rice discussed the findings of appraiser John Perkins concerning the remodeling of the Old Granite Hotel. According to Perkins, a renovation of the building is not financially feasible. Plans to demolish the building will move forward as planned.
• City Planning Director Barry Edgar recently hired a traffic engineer to access the feasibility of the proposed East Athens Street Project. The engineer will also look at the feasibility of alternative proposals to remedy downtown parking and traffic issues.
• Rice discussed the success of the recent Lazy Daze festival in downtown Winder. Participants from several states were present, including more than 100 food, craft and nonprofit booths. “This year’s Lazy Daze festival was a big success,” Rice said.

The Winder Downtown Development Authority will meet again at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16, at the Winder Community Center.