Athens commissioners pressed on sewer, stormwater as Homewood shopping-center redevelopment heads to January vote

Athens-Clarke County commissioners heard more than an hour of public comment and technical questioning on a proposed planned development for the Homewood Shopping Center, with neighbors warning that existing sewer and stormwater infrastructure could not safely support hundreds of new dwelling units.

Jack Murphy, a representative of developer Carter, told the commission the planned-development application would produce a "more responsible" site than a by-right project by capping the project's density at roughly 300,000 square feet, increasing pedestrian plaza space and tree canopy, and redirecting money that would otherwise pay for ground-floor retail and excess parking into community improvements. "If the plan development is denied," Murphy said, "the site can still be redeveloped at the same residential density, at the same height, but without all the improvements that we made as a result of community feedback."

Neighbors and community groups urged the commission to pause consideration until engineers and staff could resolve infrastructure questions. Colette Walsh said she lives downhill from the site and described a recent sewer breach: "We had signs up all over that it was toxic waste and do not touch. That's before 500 more flushes of the toilet every day," she said, summarizing residents' fears that additional units would overwhelm aging pipes.

Technical staff and developers offered differing but overlapping approaches for mitigation. Developers said the proposal removes impervious surface and includes engineered, pervious paving and underground storage to reduce runoff, with one presentation noting as much as a 20% reduction in impervious area (a separate project document cited a 7.2% reduction). Public Utilities staff said infiltration into the system, not this single site, is a major capacity driver and described short- and medium-term measures such as lining ("coating") existing pipes and adding storage tanks or force-main improvements so that new development would not make current conditions worse.

Commissioners repeatedly pressed for clarity. Several said a by-right project could allow a five-story development without commission review and emphasized that the planned-development process is an opportunity to negotiate mitigations. Commissioner Link said she could support the project if it were reduced by one story, which she said might lower the risk to the sewage storage tank and some traffic impacts. Commissioner Myers asked that staff provide clear maps and confirm locally required riparian-buffer dimensions, and requested more rigorous, county-led technical analysis of stormwater calculations.

The commission did not vote on the redevelopment at the meeting; staff and developers were asked to provide additional technical documentation and the item remains on the agenda for the January voting session.