PRESS RELEASE: CITIZENS FOR HEALTHY NEIGHBORHOODS
June 7, 1999 8:45 a.m.

Citizens for Healthy Neighborhoods is pleased to announced that yesterday the Clarke County Hospital Authority agreed to negotiate with neighborhood representatives regarding both short-term and long-term expansion plans for Athens Regional Medical Center. In light of this agreement, CHN has decided not to oppose the bond issue.

Athens Regional Medical Center is important to our community. Its location within an established, safe, and attractive neighborhood presents both opportunities and critical challenges. The hospital's expansion plans unquestionably will impact our neighborhoods. The steps the hospital takes in the next few weeks will determine whether the expansion will enhance or jeopardize the area. In the event negotiations are not successful, we are prepared to take all actions necessary to protect our neighborhoods.

We are gathered here on the steps of the Athens-Clarke County courthouse because this is an issue of critical concern to the entire community. In the Athens-Clarke County Comprehensive Land Use Plan, the community at large has endorsed the preservation of our historic intown neighborhoods, which provide an antidote to urban sprawl by their close proximity to work and schools. The hospital has shown good faith by agreeing for the first time to negotiate short-term expansion plans. The next step is the development and adoption by both parties of guiding principles that formalize the commitment to accommodate the interests of both the neighborhood and the hospital consumers. These will address the following issues:

  1. The location, height and exterior facade of Medical Building 1
  2. Creation of a hard southern expansion boundary
  3. The need for and location of the 250 space surface parking lot
  4. The need for location of the 100 space surface parking lot
  5. Transportation flows and curb cuts
  6. New property acquisition and return of previously-acquired residential properties
  7. The location of the Cancer Care facility and
  8. Landscaping, buffers and tree retention associated with items 1 through 4.

ARMC and CHN have the opportunity to initiate a new era of Athens history when neighborhoods and developers work together to manage growth in order to preserve traditional community values.