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| Home / College Guide / More money approved for Diamond Lakes, boat house repairs | News Pub |
| Posted on Thursday, February 22 @ 00:00:04 PST |
[Augusta, GA](https://newspub.live/sections/south/augusta-ga/) More money approved for Diamond Lakes, boat house repairs AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Getting the long-troubled restrooms up and running at Diamond Lakes Regional Park was a rocky journey. Even rockier than we knew. Almost $155,000 was approved Tuesday by the Augusta Commission to pay for more work than was originally planned for the restroom and concession building at the park. The work was needed to correct a few problems uncovered after the last round of repairs and improvements. The problems included vandalism and graffiti, ceiling tiles, pressure washing, painting and a plumbing issue with some drain lines. The city asked the contractor to go ahead and make the fixes back before the improvements debuted in September. The additional money was approved Tuesday to pay the contractor for that extra work. A week after the sudden and immediate resignation of Parks and Recreation Director Maurice McDowell – along with his request for three months of “severance” pay – parks and recreation facilities were prominent on Tuesday’s agenda of the commission. Among them were plans for the troubled Augusta Boat House.
After water pipes broke during a freeze, water gushed out and created damage and a mold infestation that’s brought months of discussion over whether to salvage the building or demolish it and start fresh. The commission on Tuesday approved $400,000 to help fix the Augusta Rowing Club’s space and start to renovate parts of the building that need help. The commission also received options on what the two entryway gates of the Riverwalk may look like with Ed McIntyre’s name on it. The commission recently voted to name the Riverwalk for the former mayor. Ultimately the commission approved this design Tuesday: Meanwhile the city’s interim administrator, Takiyah Douse, addressed a mass email sent out by the operator of the Fifth Street Marina. The marina operator claims the city had the water and power service shut off to the docks, forcing many boat owners to relocate. She said a lot of conversation still needs to be had before service is completely shut off. But if that must happen, there would be considerable notice. She also negated the marina operator’s claim of lack of maintenance. At Diamond Lakes The Diamond Lakes repairs and improvements have been welcome to many. The building has been plagued for years by faulty plumbing, repair delays and vandalism.
The city says the facilities have been an issue for Diamond Lakes going back to when they opened in 2012. Back then, it was just water leakage, but since 2019 leading up to the beginning of 2023, more than $900,000 had already gone into fixing up these buildings that keep on having issues. Last February, the Augusta Commission approved another $850,000 in SPLOST 7 and 8 funds as a final fix, bringing that final price tag fix to around $1.75 million. City officials said from there, the facilities would initially be completed by spring but continued to see delays into the summer. On top of construction delays and piping issues, there was vandalism. The restrooms opened just in time for the USSSA Military Worlds softball tournament which brought in thousands of veterans from across the country and overseas. Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved. Leave a Reply [Cancel reply](/south/augusta-ga/more-money-approved-for-diamond-lakes-boat-house-repairs/#respond) Leave a Reply [Augusta, GA](https://newspub.live/sections/south/augusta-ga/) Crime-ridden Augusta businesses could be punished soon AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Augusta leaders are trying to send a message to crime-ridden businesses: nearby violence can lead to a lost alcohol license.
It was a topic of discussion at Tuesday’s meeting of the Augusta Commission. In the news for weeks has been Smart Grocery on Wrightsboro Road. Although it may not be the owner’s fault, there’s been a rash of shootings at the store – at least nine in recent years with two of them fatal. The store happens to be near a cluster of high-crime apartment complexes. Just this past weekend, there was one right around the corner from the store at Fox Trace. Despite years of working together with the sheriff’s office and recently hiring extra deputies to guard three days a week, shootings continue around Smart Grocery. A 24/7 solution is too expensive for them to stay afloat. Smart Grocery property owner, Sae Pak, cited this past weekend’s shooting as an example of how the problem is the apartments, not the store. He said Little Caesars is leaving the small shopping center because of the violence. “There are more problems happening around the property, not just our property, surrounding properties. Please. I would challenge any of the commissioners to come down to where we’re at. Spend the day with us. You’ll see exactly what we see. And then tell us how we can fix it,” said Pak.
CSRA CRIME COVERAGE: The store owner and the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office say they’ve been working together to tame the violence, but the Augusta Commission wants to send a message and hold the business owner accountable. Because the Smart Grocery item was labeled as “discussion” at Tuesday’s meeting and the store owners need to be given a longer notice for action, the matter is coming back before the commission in two weeks with a recommendation for six months of probation. This wave of accountability is also coming to the Olive Road convenience store in the Glendale community, as well as Club Rain, owned by Allen Voncelillies, who also owns L9, and he got into trouble over crime there. Commissioner Jordan Johnson said: “If you take their license away for a year, I mean, that’s his livelihood, that’s his family’s livelihood. Just like we said with the other folks. It’s their livelihood, it’s family’s livelihood. We need to make this decision off of some type of equal standard.” At Tuesday’s meeting of the commission, deputies and Voncelillies discussed the revocation of the alcohol license for Club Climax. Deputies are even pressing to potentially close their doors altogether.
While Voncelillies was already on probation for the Level 9 club, he says he was not on Probation for Club Rain and was given no warning about the accusations against his business about a fatal shooting that happened there. There was a heated back-and-forth discussion in which each side accused the other of not stating facts correctly, such as where the shooting took place. Commissioners are now looking at 6-month probations for all three of these spots. We caught up with Smart Grocery after today’s meeting and they say they’re even willing to offer a sheriff’s office substation next door to combat the shootings. Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved. [Augusta, GA](https://newspub.live/sections/south/augusta-ga/) Man, kid injured in shooting on Pamplona Drive in Augusta AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Two people have been injured in a shooting on the 3600 block of Pamplona Drive in Augusta on Tuesday. According to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, at 4 p.m., deputies responded to Pamplona Drive in reference to shots fired with one person down. Deputies say upon arrival, they found a house was struck by gun fire with one adult male and one juvenile female shot at least one time.
Both subjects were transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the sheriff’s office says. As of 5:11 p.m., investigators were still on scene of the incident. This isn’t the only shooting to happened in the CSRA this week. Across the river, a sudden rash of shootings in Aiken County left at least nine people injured in four days. The shootings are part of an outbreak of violent crime across the CSRA that’s claimed about 150 lives in nearly two years. Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved. [Augusta, GA](https://newspub.live/sections/south/augusta-ga/) Ga. budget plan includes $10.7M for design of new MCG building AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The Georgia Senate on Tuesday released its budget for the next fiscal year, including $10.7 million to fund the design of a new “translational research” building for the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. This would allow the state’s flagship medical school to begin planning for a $146 million, 150,000-square-foot research building to house state-of-the-art labs and equipment for researchers and attract new physician-scientists and faculty to the state’s oldest and most prominent public medical school.
Translational research is meant to translating results in basic research into direct benefits for humans. GA. CAPITOL COVERAGE: MCG ranks 67th in the nation for National Institutes of Health research funding but ranks second in the country in NIH funding compared to other medical schools of a similar faculty size. According to Regent James M. Hull, the new building would attract the talent Georgia needs for more research bench-to-bedside discoveries. The Georgia House and Senate would need to agree in conference to fund the remaining cost of the planning for the new research building. That is expected to be under $15 million for planning, design and demolition of buildings constructed in the 1950s. The new translational research building is expected to cost $146 million, and funding for that project would need to be approved in next year’s budget. Augusta leaders praised this first step in the process, including Augusta’s Mayor, Garnett Johnson. “It’s important to note that every dollar of National Institutes of Health funding brings $2.64 back to communities where this important research is being done,” he said. “This is a wonderful signal from the Georgia Senate.” Dr.
J. Ben Deal, immediate Past Chair of the Medical College of Georgia Foundation, agreed. “We need to expand what the Medical College of Georgia can do, but we can only do that with investment,” he said. Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved. [ Atlanta, GA1 min ago ](https://newspub.live/south/atlanta-ga/big-bethel-african-methodist-episcopal-church-building-up-atlantas-black-community/) Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church building up Atlanta’s Black community [ Minneapolis, MN3 mins ago ](https://newspub.live/midwest/minneapolis-mn/monterey-regional-airport-to-welcome-flights-from-minneapolis-st-paul/) Monterey Regional Airport to welcome flights from Minneapolis-St. Paul [ Indianapolis, IN8 mins ago ](https://newspub.live/midwest/indianapolis-in/classic-car-stolen-from-indianapolis-storage-unit-family-asking-for-it-back/) Classic car stolen from Indianapolis storage unit, family asking for it back [ Pittsburg, PA12 mins ago ](https://newspub.live/northeast/pittsburg-pa/story-behind-the-uss-pittsburgh/) Story behind the USS Pittsburgh [ Augusta, GA15 mins ago ](https://newspub.live/south/augusta-ga/more-money-approved-for-diamond-lakes-boat-house-repairs/) More money approved for Diamond Lakes, boat house repairs [ Midwest2 years ago ](https://newspub.
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