Smyrna City Council members last month approved a $6.7 million redevelopment plan that will transform the city’s downtown near City Hall and the Smyrna Community Center.
But not everyone was happy about the vote. Critics of the downtown plan are organizing a rally at noon Saturday outside the Community Center at 200 Village Green Circle.
“There have been no traffic studies, there have been no environmental impact studies, there have been no competing designs. So they’re just trying to go fast with it,” organizer Jim Davis said of the city’s plans.
Davis said he expects about 100 residents opposed to the downtown plan to stage a protest on a grassy knoll along Atlanta Road. That’s where StillFire Brewery will be constructed on an acre of undeveloped city-owned land next to the Community Center, city officials say. Smyrna leaders envision the three-story pub as a centerpiece of the downtown reboot.
Davis and other opponents of the redesign allege city leaders plan to sell the property to brewery owners without a competitive bid.
Mayor Derek Norton spearheaded the blueprint to revamp the city’s downtown. He said it will make the area more pedestrian friendly by adding more greenspace.
He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday that owners of the brewery approached the city with the idea of buying the property. City Council unanimously approved terms and a notice of intent for the sell.
“Anytime that you try to make a big change, you’re going to have people on both sides of the issue,” Norton said. “But I still maintain this has received overwhelming support from the community.”
The deal is now being finalized and the proceeds will go toward building a downtown park that will be a lynchpin of the redeveloped area.
The iconic fountain and roundabout at Centennial Park at Village Green will be replaced with splash pads and the new park that’ll extend from the Community Center south to Bank Street. Meanwhile, the roads around Centennial Park will be reconfigured with King Street extended several blocks north along the east side of the Community Center.
Critics say the new traffic plan will cut off vehicle access to the front of the Smyrna Public Library and Community Center. They also say it will eliminate parking adjacent to the Community Center.
The city plans to add a $4 million parking deck with 250 spaces on three stories to address the parking needs. Davis argued that will be primarily for the StillFire Brewery when it sets up shop.
“I just feel like the rights of the citizens are being forsaken,” he told the AJC. “None of us have tried to negate the move to redesign the city center. All of us have just asked them to slow down and let’s study this so we get it right.”
A general manager for the StillFire Brewery, based in Suwanee, declined to comment Thursday. Norton insisted that restaurants and bars in the downtown area support the city’s plan
“You’ve got people who are married to the idea that nothing should change and I don’t think that’s good policy,” he said. “I think we should move forward, adapt and bring new energy into what we’re doing.”
