Georgia lawmakers decide important questions in a small complex of buildings at the state capitol. The most iconic of these buildings is the Gold Dome, built in 1889, where the public can watch their elected representatives in the state House and Senate chambers. But one important question related to the Capitol complex itself is being decided out of public view.
The Capitol complex is getting a new eight-story legislative office building. The question is how should the historic Gold Dome connect to it? Historic preservationists and some state lawmakers are sounding alarm bells about one proposed answer: a skybridge.
“I do not wish to see the symbol of our legislative process being altered by something that looks like a paper towel roll sticking out of the side,” said Atlanta Preservation Center Executive Director David Mitchell.
The skybridge would allow people to walk from the Gold Dome to the new tower without going outside or impeding vehicular traffic. But another opponent of the idea, Wright Mitchell, president and CEO of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, compared how it might look to a quote, “gerbil tube.”
The plans are part of a nearly $400 million renovation project at the Capitol complex. Most of the plans, including security improvements and the celebrated rebuilding of the dome itself, are already underway and generating positive reviews.
“During the session last year, we were all excited about how well it looked. I think the only thing that I’ve heard a lot of concern or questions about is, is what’s coming next,” said District 137 State Rep. Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City).
Historic preservationists and their allies in the General Assembly helped to quash a similar skybridge plan in 1983. And in the present case, there are other options. The state agency overseeing the Capitol renovations, the Georgia Building Authority, also is considering connecting the old and new buildings through an underground tunnel.
A subterranean walkway would have its own set of challenges, but Mitchell suggests they could be solved. And Buckner says the alternative, the skybridge, would be impossible to blend with the historic structure.
“I’m not an architect and I cannot imagine anything in my wildest dreams of how a skybridge connected to that side of the Capitol would be in keeping with the original architecture of the building,” she said.
The skybridge opponents also object to what they characterize as opaque communication about the process that will guide whether an above ground or below ground connection will be constructed.
“I don’t think there have been any discussions, to my knowledge. I’ve certainly attempted multiple times to have communication with the representative of the governing parties from the Georgia Building Authority along with the state,” said Mitchell.
Buckner said she didn’t know much about the proposal, even though she sits on the House Committee on State Properties.
“I did call the building authority and was told that — I asked what was the process, and they told me that they did not know what the process was at this point.”
The deputy executive director and chief of staff of the Georgia Building Authority, Gerald Pilgrim, declined requests to be interviewed for this story, but indicated through a staff member that no decision has been made on how to connect the new legislative office building to the Gold Dome. The new building is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026.
This article comes to Now Habersham in partnership with GPB News
