Questions and comments about revamping LaFayette Road were voiced by residents and business owners during a REFRESH Fort Oglethorpe meeting last Thursday.
Some who own businesses along the road that runs between Battlefield Parkway and the Chickamauga Battlefield Park's entrance wondered aloud if they could survive the traffic detours and disruption the project would create.
Others asked if walk-in traffic would suffer should the road narrow from its current status of a five-lane highway to that of a tree-shaded three-lane street.
While agreeing that the area has been in decline since the U.S. Highway 27 Bypass opened and that something needs to be done to attract and keep customers, there was no consensus about what that something should be.
Concerns were raised about costs to private businesses if a major change in the public space (road and right of way) is undertaken. Could the project backfire and drive customers away instead of attracting them? Would property owners have to spend money to redo their building's exteriors, and, if so, how are they expected to pay for changes?
"None of this is set in stone," Carolyn Coburn, of the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission, said regarding a preliminary plan prepared by the state's Department of Community Affairs. "These are ideas of what this corridor could be."
Coburn, who facilitated the meeting, said the goal of REFRESH is to encourage redevelopment - not dictate how it will be done. Public participation is a critical component in the process, she said, and is essential if redevelopment is to be a success.
Local business owner and chairman of the city's Downtown Development Authority Jeff Epperson said redevelopment aims to get more businesses, tourists and residents to view the area as "a place to go" rather than as "a place to go through."
"REFRESH was formed to establish a plan," he said. "We are interested in developing infrastructure that addresses everyone's concerns."
Doubts about the wisdom in making such a major commitment to a derelict district, one where DUI schools and empty parking lots are a prominent fixture, were countered by others attending the meeting.
"Nobody will invest until improvements are made," said Ian O'Shea, a Realtor licensed in Tennessee and Georgia. "After that investment there will be a demand for further improvement."
As an example, O'Shea noted how downtown renovation and renewal in Rome, Ga., was met with skepticism in its early stages. Today, the renovated area is a rousing success, both with the public and with business owners.
"Property went from $40 a square foot to $120 a square foot and occupancy rates are about 90 percent or more," he said. "If you can make that happen [in Fort Oglethorpe], business will grow."
Doyle Allen, pastor of First Presbyterian Church which is located at the park, supports efforts to reinvigorate the area. Allen said he often visits the North Shore and art museum districts in Chattanooga, areas that were once wastelands but are now destinations.
"Everything you are talking about would draw people into the area," he said.
Since late last summer the REFRESH committee has worked to develop an outline of what might lead to restoring the city's oldest commercial district, not just redesign a street. The REFRESH process will also include drafting an urban renewal and redevelopment plan that could make tax incentives and below-market-rate financing available for new and existing businesses.
Coburn said specific questions raised about traffic, design criteria, safety concerns and a possible timeline for any construction would be addressed by engineers and professional architects and urban designers.
The next step in the process is to prepare and advertise a request for proposals. A request for proposal for this project would solicit consultants and firms to bid on providing their services to create a specific plan for redoing LaFayette Road.
The winning bidder would prepare a detailed proposal for the actual project, conduct public meetings to solicit suggestions from property owners and then work up a formal plan. This would be similar to the procedure followed when Catoosa County held a series of town hall meetings during the year-long process of drafting its current 20-year growth plan.
"First you select a planner, then a plan," Coburn said, adding that the RFP should be ready for publication the first week of March.