Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Planning Clarkesville Square topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident presents plan to restore Clarkesville town square; commissioners agree to review feasibility
Summary
A Clarkesville resident and town planner presented two proposals to reintroduce a civic square on Washington Street that would create paired green spaces and remove roughly 36 parking spaces; he asked the board to authorize a feasibility study coordinated with the city and GDOT.
Lou Oliver, a Clarkesville resident and town planner, presented conceptual drawings and urged the Habersham County Commission on March 17 to pursue studies to restore Clarkesville’s historic town square or a close approximation of it.
Oliver showed two options to commissioners and said he had discussed the idea with Georgia Department of Transportation staff, who considered one of the options feasible. The proposal shown to the board would establish a pair of linear civic greens on either side of Washington Street, add traffic-calming paving and bollards, and remove approximately 36 surface parking spaces; any removal, he said, should be contingent on replacing the lost spaces in the same construction phase — for example through a parking deck on nearby parcels.
Oliver read a draft county resolution asking the board to direct county staff, in conjunction with the city, the county manager, GDOT and applicable departments, to do traffic and feasibility studies and to advance drawings for the concept. He listed potential replacement-parcel sites and wrote that the project should not proceed unless an equal number of spaces are replaced in the same construction phase.
Commissioners thanked Oliver for the presentation and said they would review the drawings, consult with the city and county attorneys, and discuss next steps; no formal vote was taken. Oliver said he had not applied for streetscape grants because he wanted a joint county/city resolution to authorize a study first.
