Renaissance on the River Project Could Resume

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A local legislator is looking for answers about an economic development project he says could have changed the lives of residents living in his district.

State Sen. David Lucas (D) 26th District, says he wants to know why nearly 12 acres, in his district were deemed contaminated. He says those acres could help to create a viable community.

“I’ve been trying to deal with the department of natural resources trying  to find out the real problem with the contaminated property on Riverside Drive, where the Renaissance Project was suppose to take place,” said Lucas.

Renaissance on the River was scheduled to start construction in 2013. Lucas says it would have changed not only the landscape of Macon, but also change lives by supplying jobs in the professional, business and service industries. The project included offices, retail stores, restaurants and housing.

“Dr. Godsey former president of Mercer University and a group of investors put together a so called 90 million dollar project that would include a hotel, residential, as well as medical offices and when they later found out that there was a certificate on the property from the EPD (Environmental Protection Division) and the state of Georgia agreeing that the propetrty was non-inhabitable,” added Lucas. “They were working on this particular property bringing engineers in and everything. They found out that a consent order was signed on that property and that there was contamination on the property that they did not know up front.”

According to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division the Renaissance on the River property was listed on its hazardous site inventory, as a class III site.

Georgia EPD spokesman, Kevin Chambers said the property was contaminated with several substances including benzine when the site was occupied by Macon Manufactured Gas Plant.

But, the EPD removed the site from its inventory in May 2011 and deemed it to be safe for non-residential use. However, for residential use the EPD says persons responsible for class iii sites are required to clean it up to more stringent standards and report their findings to EPD.

The city of Macon now owns the site.

“We’re exploring what we need to do from a legal perspective to clean-up any of the covenants that are on the property and see if we need to do any additional testing and clean it up,” said Alex Morrison, Executive Director at Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority.

According to the Macon-Bibb County Director of Public Affairs, Chris Floore, County Commissioners ares scheduled to discuss or perhaps even vote on the Riverside Drive site in an upcoming meeting.