Newly elected District 3 Commissioner looks forward to East Bank project, prioritizing economic development

With a proposed $350 million development, a national park and a new incoming county representative, East Macon is firmly in the community spotlight for the first time in decades.

East Macon native Stanley Stewart, who defeated Melvin Flowers in the District 3 runoff election on June 18, said he plans to support the projects by collaborating with local community organizations.

The day following his election, Stewart drove down Fort Hill Street, honking from his gray Honda Accord and waving at residents sitting in their yards or driving by. 

Stewart said he’s lived in Macon all his life and decided to run to address the economic needs of the community, namely business closures along Shurling Drive and Gray Highway.

“The goal is to bring all those neighborhood associations together and make sure that we realize they have a galvanizing power in terms of political voices … and also economic voices,” he said.

District 3 also includes a new mixed-use development currently being planned called the “East Bank” in the area across the Macon Coliseum. 

Designers for the $350 million plan were contracted in May to begin the pre-design process, and mockups for the new facilities include a new hotel, some mixed-use buildings and several office spaces.

Along with east Maconites, Stewart said he’s “100% behind” the development. He said his only concern is spreading the economic activity from the development across his district.

Alex Morrison, executive director of the Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority, said the county has finalized plans with the design agency and will hold public outreach events in the fall.

Morrison said the UDA, which oversees a number of county functions ranging from master planning to affordable housing loans, is mainly serving “a support role,” and will connect the development’s master planner with local assets, stakeholders and amenities.

“[The development] will become very much the front door of our community for the millions of visitors that are going to come to this national park over the next decade,” Morrison said. “In terms of place based economic development, there’s no more critical site in the county.”

Victor Hunt, president of the Fort Hill and East Macon Neighborhood Association, said east Maconites want more input in the East Bank design process and more things for children to enjoy, like a movie theater, along with new restaurants.

“A number of restaurants have closed down on both Gray Highway and Shurling Drive, and we would like to see some new and better restaurants and eating places on the east side, just like there are on the north side of Macon,” he said.

Another significant development in East Macon is the proposed Ocmulgee National Park, which would be the first national park in Georgia. 

Seth Clark, who serves as the District 5 commissioner for Macon-Bibb County and as the executive director of the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative, noted that the East Bank and Ocmulgee National Park are key to combating poverty in neighborhoods like East Macon.

“This is how we fund programs that lift up neighborhoods that have been long neglected,” he said. “The East Bank development is in a tax allocation district that extends to Pleasant Hill, with those taxes reinvested inside that boundary.”

The tax allocation district lets the county add improvements  —like a parking garage or street lights— and then draw upon the development’s increased property value to finance that improvement, which avoids pulling from general funds supported by taxes from all Maconites, Morrison said.

As part of the East Bank development plan, Stewart said he is also excited about the prospect of upgrading the entrance to the soon-to-be national park.

“Putting all these pieces together for this area, I think you’re gonna see a successful plan in place,” he said. “But there again, we want to make sure that the individuals across Emery Highway, Gray Highway, Shurling Drive also find some benefit from these issues as well.”