MACON, Ga. — On Tuesday, members of the Macon Design Review Board had a meeting where they made a decision on the proposed Otis Redding center.
The original proposed plans for the center were passed.
The only thing requested to be changed was dimmable lights on the sign for the center.
This decision comes after a few weeks of controversy, beginning with the center's design plans that were first proposed in early August.
On August 9th, the Otis Redding Foundation proposed plans for the groundbreaking of the new Otis Redding Center for the Arts, which would be located on Cotton Avenue and Cherry Street.
The center would serve as a destination for youth educational programs in music and the arts.
However, around August 12th, the center plans ran into some issues as a staff report by the county planning and zoning board said part of the project may clash with its historic downtown Macon setting.
The board's staff didn't comment on whether the project should be approved or rejected, but that it didn't mesh well with Macon's downtown area.
A hearing was supposed to take place the following Monday, August 15th, but it was delayed but the Otis Redding Foundation because they wanted to make sure it got done right.
They issued a statement to us saying, "We want to ensure that this facility will be designed and equipped to meet the needs of our community for decades to come, and we have one chance to get this right. Today, we respectfully asked for the Design Review Board to postpone our meeting until we have a more finalized version of the site plan and renderings for their thorough review.”
Then, on Monday, August 22, Commissioners agreed to move consideration of the new Otis Redding Center for the Arts at 436 Cotton Ave. to its Sept. 12 meeting.
On September the 6, the Design Review Board met to either approve the plans before the P&Z meeting on the 12th.
Now that the plans passed the Design Review Board, the final decision for approval of the building is up to the Planning and Zoning committee next week.
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