An Augusta building that housed an elementary school for nearly 60 years is a step closer to becoming a programmed care home for adults and children.
The Augusta-Richmond County Planning Commission voted Tuesday to recommend that the city approve proposed plans for the former Terrace Manor Elementary School at 3110 Tate Road.
The school, which closed in 2023, still is owned by the Richmond County Board of Education.
Evans resident Shelley Parker-Mack told planning commissioners that her current business, Lizzy’s Adult Community Service Center on Augusta Tech Drive, serves 80 adult clients but demand is high and its waiting list is growing longer.
Her business currently
occupies a building constructed in 1988 as Castle Child Care, with exterior towers and battlements built to resemble a medieval castle.
Parker-Mack said she hopes to accommodate up to 300 clients at the Terrace Manor site.
The adult day program, according to an executive summary accompanying her request, "will provide structured daytime support, supervision, life-skills development, social engagement, community inclusion and wellness activities for adults with developmental disabilities and mental health diagnoses."
The afterschool program "will provide a safe, structured and supportive environment for children with special needs and at-risk youth during afterschool hours," according to the summary. "The program will offer academic support, mentoring, life-skills training, social development opportunities, behavioral support, recreational activities and positive youth engagement designed to promote educational success and reduce risk factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency and negative outcomes."
Commissioners expressed concerns about adults and children with differing behavioral challenges sharing the same building. Parker-Mack said the school, built to hold 550 pupils, has enough space to place both its programs on distinctly separate parts of the 12-acre campus.
Terrace Manor Elementary opened in 1965 to serve pupils in the surrounding Terrace Manor neighborhood, developed in 1954. Shrinking enrollment prompted the school's closure in 2023.
The rezoning request is next scheduled to be considered by the Augusta Commission at its Oct. 20 meeting.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Augusta's former Terrace Manor Elementary poised for second chapter
