September 28, 1999

Statement by Amy Andrews, Co-Chair of Citizens for Healthy Neighborhoods, at the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Athens-Clarke County Hospital Authority

Citizens for Healthy Neighborhoods endorses the Hospital Authority's resolution regarding Athens Regional Medical Center's 20-year master plan. The recommendations of the Programs and Facilities Committee represent the items on which we were able to achieve consensus at the meetings of the Community Advisory Committee this past summer. We further propose that CHN and the Hospital Authority jointly present the recommendations and resolution to the Mayor and Council to be accepted into the public record.

There are important neighborhood issues remaining in the hospital's land use plan. As a sign of good faith that ARMC will continue its dialogue with CHN and work towards lessening the impact on the neighborhood caused by the 20-year plan, we will be removing our yard signs.

Short range issues include the preservation of the house at 256 King Avenue, the design of the King-Talmadge connector road and its impact on King Avenue, and the design of the medical building on Talmadge Avenue. Long range issues include the future of the Trusso property, the possibility of hospital expansion across Prince Avenue, the impact on the Normaltown business district, and the design of stormwater retention for Brooklyn Creek. CHN will continue to work with ARMC and the Athens-Clarke County government to lessen the impact of hospital traffic in our neighborhoods.

We wish to thank everyone involved in the meetings this summer for their hard work in coming to an understanding about the hospital's land use plan for the next 20 years. We arrived at the first meetings with a wide chasm separating our respective goals and although there remains a chasm still, we all realize that far more will be accomplished with cooperation and understanding than with separate agendas. We thank the Hospital Authority for making a firm public commitment to 20-year expansion boundaries and to a process of ongoing community involvement in planning the growth of the hospital.

We hope that our joint planning efforts this summer and in the months and years to come will be a model for community based planning in Athens Clarke County, as envisioned in the Comprehensive Land Use Plan.