How the questionnaires were scored:
Each answer was awarded a score on a scale of -2 to +2, based on the level of agreement with Grow Green's position on that issue, for a maximum score of 14 points. Bonus points were awarded for extraordinarily thorough, detailed answers.

1. What do you think Athens-Clarke County’s growth issues will be in the next ten years?

Transportation will continue to be an area that the ACC government must improve to ensure viable means of reaching employment, schools and shopping opportunities, and of preventing vehicle emissions, the largest source of airborne pollutants.

Employment need to be encouraged that will provide fair wages to residents, while working within a small footprint to protect our natural resources.

Retaining rural landand greenspace should also be a priority in the next ten years (and beyond). There are currently a record number of vacant housing units for sale in the Athens MLS region, and it is not economically feasible to continue to build new homes for the short-term profit of a few. There are a host of other profitable building projects to pursue that will improve the quality of life for Athens residents by strengthening existing homes, neighborhoods and businesses corridors.

Improvements in existing neighborhoods should be a priority, include better runoff control, an improved tree canopy, and increasing the energy efficiency of our homes, businesses and public buildings.

The primary growth issue we Athenians have before us now is to properly define what the growth issues will be in our county in the next decade. This is done through having a ten-year land use plan that will properly guide growth in the ways we Athenians want to see. We do not have that now. We need a land use plan that is not already rendered obsolete by growth by the time the plan is enacted, as the case is with our present land use plan. We do this by giving ourselves time to develop such a land use plan. We give ourselves time to do an up to date land use plan by not running any new water and sewer to any new development until we have run water and sewer to all the existing homes that were left out 50 years ago when the water and sewer plan was drawn up. By doing this, we erase inequality in service delivery and have a land use plan that manages growth before it occurs, rather than managing it after it is built, as we are doing now.

2. What changes, if any, would you like to see in the Athens-Clarke County Comprehensive Land Use Plan to address these issues?

The concept of Transferable Development Rights has been discussed locally for over six years, and it a tool whose time has come. TDRs have developed a new life in recent meetings of the ACC Unified Government’s TDR committee. Some of the current discussion involves the ability of TDRs to address not just residential, but also commercial development. While it is not a panacea, a TDR program would be an additional tool to use in preserving open land.

3. What will you do to increase the supply of accessible, affordable housing?

There is no doubt that providing affordable housing is one of the most difficult land use challenges in Athens. Affordable housing is critical, though, as it allows low income residents to build wealth and ensure stable neighborhoods. Some have suggested the expansion of trailer parks, but because of their decreasing assessment over time, trailer homes do not provide the same long-term benefits to owners as permanent frame homes. Also, land at the edge of the Athens-Clarke County or in Oglethorpe or Madison Counties that is less expensive to purchase comes with hidden costs in the distance these properties lie from public transportation, schools, shopping, health care facilities and employers.

In moving toward a greater supply of affordable housing, density bonuses could be offered for builders who set aside units as affordable housing and ensure environmental safeguards. It is important that low-income housing is well integrated throughout neighborhoods. One of the deficiencies in the “urban renewal” plans of the 1960s was that geographically concentrated poverty works to keep families entrenched in its grip. Children in this setting do not grow up with the diversity of experience that will lead them to success and businesses often avoid these neighborhoods, or take advantage of residents with higher prices than the market average.

The Planning Commission recently rejected a proposal to upzone a parcel near North Avenue from RS-8 to RS-5. If twenty or thirty percent of the homes in this request would have been priced at under $100,000, the plan would have done more to address our low-cost housing needs, and would have been more in line with options we need to consider.

I would also like to expand the age range for which income-based homestead exemptions are available. Currently, 62 is the youngest age at which this is an option. This could be lowered to 55 to help residents prepare for retirement, particularly those who are on fixed incomes.

Consumer education is also critical. One of the factors that allows gentrification to move longtime residents from their homes is the ability of some unscrupulous buyers to take advantage of residents who are not aware of the value of their homes and land by buying property at a fraction of its worth. Supporting the educational efforts of organizations such as the East Athens Development Corporation will help keep residents from being manipulated.

4. How will you balance the interests of the community as a whole and the interests of individual property owners when making land use decisions?

Individual property owners need to feel that being in Athens-Clarke County is not a burden to them. For many rural land owners, this means but that there must be viable opportunities for realizing income from their land. We need ensure for rural property owners that there are tax incentives for them to keep their land in a natural state or as well-managed farmland. When they do this, they are saving the county money, and the government should offer the same in return. TDR programs similarly work to compensate rural land owners for the value their property provides for the entire community.

The primary way in which Ed Vaughan will do this is to educate Athenians about how the interests of the community as a whole and the interests of individual property owners are, in many ways, one and the same. We Athenians have for too long divided ourselves into polarized pro- and anti- development camps. We have done this because we have had to do all of our community activism and land use planning in an Athens that is sprawling chaotically. With a land use plan in place that effectively stabilizes growth, we can begin a more productive dialogue. This way, we will not again have to find ourselves screaming at each other over the width of riparian buffers while we watch the apartment houses go up on the banks of the river that supplies our drinking water; clean drinking water being, after all, the reason we want wider riparian buffers. Balancing our interests involves first having our interests mapped out and acted upon effectively.

5. How would that balance impact the local environment?

This balance would benefit the local environment by allowing property owners to have a supportive partner in the local government, a partner that helps them make environmentally and economically effective use of the land, while protecting current and future residents of Athens. Just as we wish today that developers and farmers from past generations would have made wiser land use choices to allow us a healthier environment in which to live, we must be clear in our desire to leave the best environment possible to future generations. If we do not we are essentially creating “taxation without representation” for our children and grandchildren; they should not be charged with paying for the damage we leave behind.

I believe there can be strong connections between the economy and the environment in Athens-Clarke County. When we create facilities that can produce alternative fuels and plastics that are not reliant on petroleum, we create a new economic engine that is sustainable and works in concert with the earth. We further create opportunities for financially viable uses of agricultural land.

6. What are Athens-Clarke County’s transportation issues and how will you deal with them?

Regional transportation planning is a significant need in Athens-Clarke County, as forty percent of our workforce lives out of county. One way to begin to address this within the county is through improved public transit. There are many large, under-used parking lots toward the edge of Athens that could serve as viable park-and-ride locations. The former Wal-Mart on Huntington Road, the Willow Wood Shopping Center on Lexington Highway, the Shops of South Athens and the Homewood Hills Shopping Center are all locations that would benefit from being hubs for frequent bus service taking people into downtown and the university area. With buses running every ten to fifteen minutes, we could greatly increase use of public transit and reduce traffic on our roads. At the same time, this plan would attract business to these underutilized shopping centers.

I am committed to working with the General Assembly to create a regional transportation entity. It is also important to seek available federal grants and matching funds. Well designed local plans often allow us to leverage outside funds, which should be a continual goal.

Transportation options must be considered in concert with land use decisions. It is my desire that any new residential or commercial developments in Athens are accessible by a wider array of transportation options than only an automobile.

Athens' transportation issues fall into two broad categories: roads and transit.

7. Does more need to be done to safeguard Athens-Clarke County’s environment and natural resource? If so, what? If not, why not?