MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — A state agency says the fences they've been installing around several of the buildings on Central State Hospital's main campus are due to asbestos removal.
This includes the Walker, Greene, and Jones buildings, the communications building, and the steam plant. However, folks say they're still concerned something could be happening to these buildings.
"He said they were putting up the fence panels because the buildings were due to be demolished,” Star Shaw says.
Shaw has lived in Milledgeville for the past 40 years. She says when visiting the Jones Building last week, she asked men putting up fencing around the Central State Hospital campus what was happening, and that's what they told her.
“Nobody had been notified or told anything about this,” she says.
Mary Ester Smith says her mother's family all worked at Central State. She thinks the fences are a bad sign.
“Because that's usually the only reason why they put fences up, is for demolition,” she explains.
Smith says Central State is full of Milledgeville and Georgia history, with buildings almost 200 years old.
Look at the Jones building. A big portion of the residents of Baldwin County was born in that building because that was the first medical hospital in this county,” she chuckles. “This building behind me was built in 1884. That in itself makes it valuable, and to think that that's going to be thrown away is just mind-boggling to me." Smith said.
Edwin Atkins is the creator of the Friends of Central State Hospital group on social media, which has a sizable following.
He says the group is all for the removal of asbestos, but he says he’s worried because that’s usually the first step companies take before demolition on a building begins.
“They’re never going to be used as structures to repair. The only choice is whether it’s a total demolition or a partial demolition,” he explains.
Atkins says he wishes the state would create a public forum to hear the public out on what they think should happen to the buildings, and if demolition is the only option, he asks that the state preserve the facades of the front of the buildings.
He explains that it’s been done successfully before in a building in the 70s called “The Twin”, which was identical to the Walker building.
“The history of the Central State Hospital is part of Georgia’s history, and to alter the look and history is a travesty,” Atkins says.
Ashley Fielding is Assistant Commissioner for the State Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, which owns the buildings.
"We wanna make sure that any decision or any action that we make are mindful of those strong ties that the community has,” Fielding explains.
She says they've seen videos of people sneaking into these buildings and exposing themselves to danger. So, the state is discussing how to secure the buildings to keep people safe.
The options could include demolition.
"What the decision will ultimately land on is what the state has funding to do in order to mitigate these safety risks, which we can all agree are very real,” she says.
Fielding didn't know if the state would have a forum to get the public's opinion on what should happen to the buildings.
She says if the public does have concerns about the future decisions of the Greene, Walker, and Jones buildings, they're welcome to email DBHDDConstituentServices@dbhdd.ga.gov.
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