AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The Augusta Historic Preservation Commission decided on the future of the Old First Baptist Church building on Thursday. 

The organization is giving the property owner 10 days to take action in repairing the building.  

We spoke with officials about the building’s structural issues. 

After testimonies from people with code enforcement, neighboring businesses and Historic Augusta, the Preservation Commission decided that the owner wasn’t making routine repairs and maintenance to keep the property safe and up to code.  

That means a potential legal battle if the ball doesn’t get rolling soon. 

One of the biggest pieces of downtown Augusta’s history is in danger of structurally failing.  

The Augusta Historic Preservation Commission says after hearing testimonies and gathering evidence of the state of the building, they’re concerned for the future. 

“It is on the endangered property list for historic Augusta but is on the state endangered property list. So, we’re not making up that it’s there’s a problem. There is a very serious problem with this building,” said Tara Conway, chair of the Augusta Preservation Commission. 

The city’s code enforcement says the building is breaking several code violations, including making Augusta’s blight list dating back to 2021.  

The property owner, Joe Edge, says he’s spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs to keep the structural integrity of the church stable, like installing a new roof on the back of the building to prevent it from collapsing. 

“We’ve secured the front keeping the homeless out. We’ve had to secure not just put salt on. We’ve had to install wrought iron fencing around the basement to keep vagrants out of there,” said Edge.  

However, code enforcement says there are no permits pulled for almost all of the projects Edge claimed there was work done.  

It’s an issue historical stakeholders say they’re glad action is being taken because you can’t just rebuild historical markers. 

George Bush with the Preservation Committee Historic Augusta said: “This is not just a local building. This is where the Southern Baptist Convention started. This is a national asset, and we are just trying to save it, and we’re doing everything we can.” 

The city will now issue a notice to Edge for him to file a Certificate of Appropriateness, or COA, which is a permit with the city to allow him to start making external repairs. 

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AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – If you drive in downtown Augusta near the 13th Street bridge, you’ve likely dealt with the construction traffic as part of Augusta’s beautification.  

Brick-in-laid crosswalks were recently finished, and while they look great, they didn’t last long. 

John Ussery, assistant director of traffic, says they have already fixed some of the crosswalks on Telfair Street and 13th and Greene Street. 

Now, they are making their way down to Jones Street, and he says they’re almost done with the project — again.  

“I’m driving. I’m like, “Yay, good job, guys.” And I hit this bump in the road, and I was like, “Where did this bump come from? It’s a perfectly good road,’” said Jesse Cheadle, who drives in Augusta.

Just when residents thought they saw the light at the end of the tunnel, crews are back out again. 

“I’m looking at it and the brick had literally been broken. And coming into the road,” said Cheadle. 

In October, the city installed brick sidewalks at the intersection of 13th Street and Jones Street. 

They said the construction would take about two weeks. 

“It’s frustrating because it’s such a high-volume area,” said Cheadle. 

But now, three months later, they’re starting over. 

“They laid the brick in there loosely. What did they think was gonna happen?” said Cheadle. 

Ussery says they are having to redo all of the brick sidewalks because the contractor decided to try a different technique than what the manufacturer had suggested. 

But this time around, they’re following the recommendation. 

“Well, you had one job and you failed,” said Cheadle. 

Cheadle says he’s hoping it’s all done soon because it’s not just about convenience, but also safety. 

“That ambulance needs to get to a hospital in a timely manner. They don’t have time to go around I-20. They don’t have time to go around Gordon Highway,” said  

Luckily, the city says they do not have to pay for them to fix the crosswalks this time around. 

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ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) – Municipal airports across South Georgia could see improvements paused or canceled because of a lack of funding from federal and state officials.

Regional Airports need $83.5 million per year for improvement projects, but Albany, Valdosta, Savannah, Augusta, Macon, Brunswick, and Columbus only receive $16 million from the FAA and $2.8 million from the state.

Airports outside of Atlanta are receiving the shorter end of the stick when it comes to federal and state funding. Airport officials say that they hope that with more grant funding and the expansion of a few projects, it will increase more revenue right here in the Good Life City.

“If we don’t improve our infrastructure and our facilities, we will continue to lose our business aviation to other states. Some of the other states are receiving anywhere from 30 to 80 million dollars worth of funds, where we’re getting around 19 to support 7 airports outside of Atlanta and that’s a challenge,” officials say.

In Albany, the airport has upcoming projects to bring bigger planes, more commercial flights, and Cargo airplanes to the city. But with the lack of funding, the completion of that project is at risk.

“We’re looking at a runway extension which will be a huge project over 100 million dollars and funding has not been identified for that project. So where would we get that money? Well, we need the Federal Administration and the State of Georgia to give us more support,” officials say.

While officials say the airport needs some improvements, passengers say they love the convenience of being able to travel right outside their backyard.

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