Downtown businesses push for communication amid construction
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Millions of dollars in improvements for downtown Augusta could negatively impact the businesses it’s trying to help.
Phase two of the Broad Street improvement project is set to bring the heart of Augusta up to code and improve parking and safety.
However, that will mean parking directly in front of dozens of businesses along Broad Street between Fifth and 15th will be unavailable at different points in this process.
That means business could be impacted.
It’s important to keep in mind that this isn’t just restaurants and bars affected.
It’s your boutiques, barber shops, bicycle shops, every business on Broad Street is impacted. There are a lot of them that want to be a part of the improvement process, which is the message a group of business owners sent to city leaders on Tuesday.
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“In the name of progress, I think it has to be done,” said Matt Flynn, co-owner of Stillwater Taproom.
The path to the finish line, however, is bumpy.
”I’m just nervous to see if they’re gonna be efficient on Broad Street, knowing that it’s the main street. And I know they’ve been avoiding Broad Street for so long because of that, so I’m hoping that they have another sense of urgency with Broad Street compared to the other roads,” said Alexia Redman, owner of Earth Pantry.
“We’re just gonna have to wait and see what really happens, and how disruptive it is. If they’re gonna do it all at one time or they’re gonna do it piecemeal, it kind of remains to be seen, and we’ll just have to wait till then to form a plan of attack, I think,” said Flynn.
It’s not just one, two or three businesses concerned.
“Until we see plans, I mean, we’re not gonna be comfortable,” said Penelope Ballas-Stewart, owner of Luigi’s.
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Just about any business you talk to has something to share.
We just need to be able to see what the plan is. It’s very uncomfortable to be told something, but not see proof, and to not know what to plan for,” said Ballas-Stewart.
Ballas-Stewart is one of several business owners going before commissioners with concerns.
“I kind of gathered from what was said today that we’re still on the 500 block, and gonna be losing parking for a bicycle lane, which is unacceptable. We can’t afford to lose that much parking on our block,” said Ballas-Stewart.
“I was very encouraged to see a few of the commissioners really put some pressure on the engineering committee to make us part of the plan to open communication there so that they’re talking with us to see what our needs are,” said Ballas-Stewart.
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Because local businesses are the heart of downtown.
“At the end of the day, we all have each other, so we can either love each other or isolate. So I think just being together is gonna get us through any kind of construction or anything that goes on downtown,” said Redman.
Traffic engineering will come back to commission in a couple of weeks with a revised plan based on recent community meetings.
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