Keep Athens‑Clarke County Beautiful offers help with airport entrance plantings; board to schedule site visit

Stacy Frell, director of Keep Athens‑Clarke County Beautiful (a division of Athens‑Clarke County Solid Waste), described long‑running beautification programs—Adopt‑a‑Highway, Green Schools and community plantings—and raised the airport entrance as a priority area for future work.

"I've been the director of this program for about 25 years," Stacy said, outlining community initiatives including daffodil plantings seen from the Lexington ramps and the group's experience coordinating volunteer plantings with the Georgia Department of Transportation and landscape management.

Stacy and board members discussed constraints that limit planting on or near runways—right‑of‑way, tree height, horizontal clearances and mower maintenance—and recounted instances when plantings were mowed down because low maintenance was required. She suggested a site visit with landscape management staff (Jeannie/Genie) and airport operations staff to identify realistic, low‑maintenance opportunities such as a sign with plantings on Lexington Highway.

Stacy noted that the daffodil project is community funded and not government financed, and that the authority's board of directors can raise small grants for targeted beautification projects. Board members agreed to coordinate a follow‑up site visit and to discuss how small, funded plantings or signage might support longer‑term improvements without conflicting with airport safety and maintenance requirements.

The board did not commit county funds at this meeting; rather the discussion concluded with agreement to set up a site visit and to explore partnership options between Keep Athens‑Clarke County Beautiful, airport staff, and landscape management.