AJC > NorthSide > Blog > Archives > 2006 > November
November 2006
Milton’s historic day: No all-nighter here
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Like Johns Creek, Milton officially became a city Friday. Unlike Johns Creek, Milton’s leaders decided to go to bed early. No 12:01 a.m. meeting here in northwest Fulton County.
The Milton City Council met earlier Thursday and approved a $12.7 million budget to carry the city through until Oct. 1 when its first full fiscal year starts. They plan to meet again Friday at 9 a.m.
Much of the agendas will deal with nuts and bolts issues, such as franchise agreements with cable companies, trash haulers, adopting building codes and so on.
The timing of the meetings is being dictated by the law and by the desires of the residents. For example, residents of both communities have insisted city leaders make planning and zoning a priority. So as soon as the two cities become functional, the city councils will begin the process of taking over land use decisions. Both will freeze planning and zoning applications until their ordinances are in place and legal, probably in a couple of weeks.
They also will be approving agreements with Fulton County to continue providing some services, such as police and fire protection, which are being contracted out until Milton and Johns Creek can launch their own departments. Milton hopes to have its own public safety department in place by May 1 while Johns Creek plans to wait until next year. Other services, such as water and sewer will continue to be provided by the county indefinitely.
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Historic day in Johns Creek: Opening day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Johns Creek City Council listens intently to a presentation Thursday night by attorney Scott Bergthold about how adult entertainment is accompanied by such negative effects as declining property values, crime, and litter. Shown are (from l-r) Randall Johnson, Karen Richardson, Mayor Mike Bodker, Liz Hausmann, and Bev Miller.
Despite the hour and despite the tedium of some of the issues, Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker felt buoyant when gaveled to a close the first City Council meeting since the new city became fully functional.
“I was tired when I came in at midnight, but now I feel exhilarated,” Bodker said. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to go to sleep.”
Applause ends midnight meeting Read the full story.
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Are you happy with Sandy Springs?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s been a year. Are Sandy Springs residents happy with the quality of service they’re getting from their new government.
Here’s what six-year resident Maria Maragh said was working:
•Law enforcement: “That’s taking the drug dealers off the streets — I don’t see them anymore.”
• Beautification: “They’re beautifying the city. The apartment complexes are being painted, which is good. Now Sandy Springs is coming back to where it used to be.”
•Maintenance: “They’re repairing the roads.”
And here’s what she said needed improvement:
•The earlier bar closing time: “It was good at 4. Why stop at 2 — we’re grown.”
•Finances: “How are they squeezing the money out? I know they are going to run out. What will they do when they need to add more resources? My rent has already gone up.”
For neighborhood leader Don Huffner, the what’s working list was as follows:
•Structure [things like the tree ordinance and other laws]: “I think they are really doing a lot of things to make Sandy Springs a great community.”
• Police: “When it was [unincorporated] Fulton County you saw a police officer, it was one every three or four months. Now, I pass one to three police officers all the time and it gives you a good feeling. …”
• Fire: “Using the defibrillators and having a training program provides a service but also builds a feeling of community — that’s an important aspect of community.”
And here’s what Huffner said needed improvement:
• Development: “The city has identified certain areas [they want developed]. They need to focus on those areas and not get lost in the push for growth. They need to keep refocusing and put it through a filter of what’s good for the community and always use that filter.”
• Confidence: “They need to be a bit more bold in some action and have confidence in what they’re doing. And if they’re going to make a mistake, err on what’s right and what’s good for the people.”
NorthSide.Talk would love to hear from you. What do you think is working in this now one-year old city and what do you think could use some improvements?
Read more neighborhood voices
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Love Shack store opens in Johns Creek
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Armed with what he believes are solid loopholes, the owner of a chain of adult video stores opened a new mega-store in the heart of Johns Creek.
The prospect of the opening of a 10,000-square-foot Love Shack at Jones Bridge and State Bridge roads has provoked intense and negative reaction from many residents of the new city of Johns Creek. A townhall meeting on the subject drew more than 1,000 people.
The owner, John Cornetta, opened the store barely 24 hours ahead of when the new city becomes functional at 12:01 a.m. Friday. He said he was in compliance with Fulton County law and ordinances, and therefore could open.
“There’s nothing they can do,” he said. “I’m legal.”
He said he was taking advantage of a provision in county law that allows businesses to open 30 days without a business license. Cornetta argued that because he will be legally open when Johns Creek becomes a city, he will be grandfathered, a reference to a law that protects existing businesses if laws change later.
Cornetta also an Oct. 12 federal court ruling that he said struck down Fulton County’s adult entertainment regulations. But he said, since the Johns Creek store has less than 25 percent adult material, he was in compliance with county regulations anyway. He takes into account such things as pieces of lingerie, whips, incense sticks, and lubricants.
The county has refused to issue Cornetta a business license, claiming that the Love Shack is an adult entertainment business, no matter what Cornetta says. Cornetta has sued in state and federal court, but the case has yet to be decided. A federal judge denied his request to make Fulton County leave him alone until the case is finally decided.
Fulton County attorneys could not be reached for comment.
Later Wednesday Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker said Cornetta was pretty far out on a limb, and said the city would soon pass its own tough set of laws on adult businesses.
“It’s just a smokescreen,” Bodker said. “While I’m not surprised he’s doing this, a judge has already said he can’t do it. He is taking the law into his own hands. We still stand prepared to pass stringent set of ordinances for adult business that have been tested. We intend to uphold the community’s desire to set strong standards for these businesses.”
Earlier, as Cornetta talked to reporters outside, about 25 workers milled about inside, busily putting finishing touches on the store. Music throbbed and strobes flashed. A bed was positioned prominently in the center of the store.
A Fulton County police detective stood nearby with a department spokeswoman, but they said Cornetta hadn’t broken any criminal laws from what they could tell.
A lone woman, obviously distressed, stood about 20 yards away in the parking lot, watching the activity and making several calls on a cell phone. She declined to comment.
Kitty Garrison of North Atlanta Dance Academy, located across the street, was beside herself. She fears that the presence of an adult business so close and so visible will scare away patrons of her ballet studio.
“He can’t do that,” she said. “He has to get court permission.”
One woman who was there to pick up her 6-year-old daughter said she objects to the store being there, but said she wouldn’t stop bringing her girl there.
“It’s a bad location,” said the woman, who wouldn’t identify herself. “But this a wonderful place. I won’t allow them [the Love Shack] to stop me from coming here.”
In the parking lot, Bob Love, who lives nearby, waited for the store to open. He said he’s glad the store is opening.
“Now I don’t have to go to Peachtree Corners,” he said. “I know a lot of people who drive there, but they’re afraid to come out. They’re afraid of the cameras. I’m a little more foolish than they are.”
He said he doesn’t believe it will hurt property values or attract crime as critics claim. Most patrons don’t want any trouble, he said.
“I don’t spend more than 10 minutes in a Love Shack,” he said. “I think people are just afraid of what they’ve never seen.”
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What neighborhood has the best light displays
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Are your neighbor’s Christmas lights visible from the international space station? Does your subdivision go so hog-wild with holiday decor that you need a cop to direct traffic? We want to know where the Northside’s most decorated homes and neighborhoods are. Send us an e-mail at northside@ajc.com, or you can post a reply below to tell us your nominee.
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Where are the best Northside holiday lights?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Are your neighbor’s Christmas lights visible from the international space station? Does your subdivision go so hog-wild with holiday decor that you need a cop to direct traffic? We want to know where the Northside’s most decorated homes and neighborhoods are. Send us an e-mail at northside@ajc.com, or you can post a reply below to tell us your nominee.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Milton
How would you use $10 or $100 to improve the world?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What if someone gave you $10 or $20 or $100 to use any way you wanted, with only one catch — that you use the money for good.
That’s what happened to about 1,450 worshippers at the Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell earlier this year. The AJC’s Helena Oliviero reports that the church handed out $30,000 in all, in small denominations.
Every person 10 or older randomly received $10, $20, $50 or $100.
What would you do to turn your money into a gift for someone else?
Click here to see what the $30,000 bought — and what it taught the recipients.
UPDATE 11/30: This thread has veered fairly far off topic. What if we just stipulate that some people who believe in God are guilty of hypocritical behavior at times, as are some folks who blog. Anybody have thoughts about what you’d do with the money given the chance?
Permalink | Comments (45) | Post your comment | Categories: Hot topics
Atlantic Station developer has designs on Holcomb Bridge Road
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The man who brought Atlantic Station to midtown Atlanta unveiled plans Tuesday for the largest development project ever in Roswell.
Charlie Brown wants to build a mixed-use minicity valued at up to $2 billion on 107 acres that straddle the east side of Ga. 400 at Holcomb Bridge Road in the heart of north Fulton County.
The plan features several high-rise towers for both residential and commercial uses, mostly in the 20- to 30-story range. The tradeoff is an abundance of greenspace across the entire project, Brown told nearly 200 members of the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce who attended a packed breakfast meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel in Roswell.
Read the full story by the AJC’s Paul Kaplan
What questions do you have about this proposed development? What is your initial reaction to the proposal?
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End run on Roswell in annexation effort
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Did you hear about Milton’s annexation vote for the Arnold Mill Road area? Add your reaction below.
Here is staff writer Paul Kaplan report on Milton’s Thanksgiving surprise for Roswell:
At a hastily called meeting in the middle of the night, the fledgling city of Milton snookered the powerful city of Roswell this week.
Roswell had scheduled a pair of meetings early next week to annex nearly 300 acres of prime northwest Fulton County land, but the Milton City Council beat Roswell to the punch.
With the help of property owners, Milton approved its own annexation in two meetings a few hours apart. The first was held late Tuesday afternoon. The second meeting started a stroke after midnight, to satisfy a legal requirement that Milton hold the annexation meetings on separate days.
That secured for Milton a prized 307-acre section of land that abuts both cities, including more than half of what Roswell had planned to annex next week.
Permalink | | Categories: Milton
Tour de Georgia skips Alpharetta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The 2007 Tour de Georgia won’t end in Alpharetta this time. The six-stage cycling race will come into metro Atlanta through Hall County and Stone Mountain on its way to a finish close to the Georgia Aquarium, at Centennial Olympic Park downtown.
Will Northside miss it? Did you go to any of the recent Tour de Georgia events in Alpharetta and Cumming? Should the Convention and Visitors Bureau lobby to get it back in 2008?
Read the full story by Michael Pearson here, and add your thoughts below.
Permalink | | Categories: Johns Creek
Neighborhood Buyout: Would you sell?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The AJC’s Christopher Quinn writes about the Heritage Glen subdivision, near the intersection of Johnson Ferry and Roswell Roads in the heart of East Cobb. It’s across Roswell Road from the upscale Avenues of East Cobb and close to a new shopping center where a Trader Joe’s will be the anchor. [Click here to read Christopher Quinn’s story]
A development team has offered to buy the 26-year-old subdvision to replace it with million dollar homes.
About 20 families don’t want to sell, despite what other neighbors call a generous buy-out offer. The debate is getting personal.
Think about your own neighborhood, or ones nearby. If you were faced with an offer to buy your neighborhood to replace it with a new commercial development or more expensive homes, how would you decide whether to stay or go? What do you think you would do if you lived in this East Cobb neighborhood.
Permalink | Comments (14) | Categories: Hot topics
Non-profit Christmas tree stands?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC Northside is trying to pull together an online list of non-profit Christmas tree lots across Northside. If your church, school, sports team, scout troop or other civic organization is selling trees as a fund-raiser, post the information here.
If we get enough response, we’ll try to organize the list to make it easier to scan.
Please include the info in this format (you can copy and paste this block and fill in the information)
County/Area or City:
Organization name:
Location of sale:
Dates of sale:
Other pertinent info:
Here’s an example from the Riverwood High School Baseball Team. (This is a real listing)
County/Area or City: North Fulton/Sandy Springs
Organization name: Riverwood High School Baseball Team
Location of sale: On the school’s baseball field, which is located behind the school at 5900 Heards Drive.
Dates of sale: Nov. 24-Dec. 10
Other pertinent info: Proceeds from the tree sale benefit the Riverwood High School Baseball Team. Trees for sale are Fraser firs from North Carolina.
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Should city cops patrol interstates?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In response to last week’s post about Sandy Springs Police Department’s traffic crackdown on Ga. 400 and I-285, NorthSide blogger “edge770” said he didn’t “believe that municipalities belong on controlled access highways.” In fact, he instructed city officers to “stay on main thoroughfares and side streets [and] leave controlled access highways to county and state law enforcement.”
How many folks agree with “edge 770”? From Doraville to Smyrna and from Alpharetta to Sandy Springs, should your city police force write tickets on Ga. 400, I-285 and I-75?
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Alpharetta cop to be Milton’s public safety chief
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The city of Milton announced the hiring of former Alparetta police officer Chris Lagerbloom as public safety director.
Here’s an excerpt from the city news release about the appointment:
The City of Milton has named Christopher J. Lagerbloom as its Public Safety Director. Lagerbloom has spent the past 11 years in the police force at the City of Alpharetta. While there, he worked his way up from a police officer in the Uniform Patrol Division to Police Sergeant as a Crime Prevention Unit Commander and an Administrative Division Commander. Most recently, he returned to the Uniform Patrol Division as a Police Captain.
“I am enthused and humbled to have been chosen as the first Public Safety Director for the City of Milton. Our new department will be unique,” says Lagerbloom. “We will build a public safety organization designed to deliver extraordinary service utilizing the talents of extraordinary people.”
While at Alpharetta, Lagerbloom oversaw the police department’s national accreditation and state certification processes, which collectively encompass more than 475 individual standards covering the areas of administration, operations, planning and budget. He also re-established the city’s bicycle patrol and expanded the city’s neighborhood watch program, which grew to be one of the largest in north Fulton County.
“What an amazing opportunity to be trusted with one of the most precious things each citizen and visitor to the City of Milton enjoys: their safety,” Lagerbloom adds.
Last year, Lagerbloom completed his master’s degree in public administration at Columbus State University in Columbus, Ga. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Georgia State University in Atlanta.
Lagerbloom will be sworn in at the next meeting of the city council, which will be held at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 21 at Hopewell Middle School, 13060 Cogburn Road. All council meetings are open to the public.
For more information about the City of Milton, visit the city’s Web site at www.cityofmiltonga.us.
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Johns Creek fires salvo in adult business battle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Amid cheers from an appreciative audience, Johns Creek City Council delivered on a promise to crack down on adult businesses as soon as the newly incorporated city became official.
At the end of its first meeting, the City Council by a 5-0 vote adopted a stop-gap measure prohibiting distribution of obscene material. Earlier this year, the federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Georgia’s obscenity law. The Johns Creek ordinance corrects the flaws the high court found in the state law, said Mayor Mike Bodker.
An adult video chain called the Love Shack tried in August to open a mega-store in the heart of Johns Creek, prompting howls of outrage from much of the citizenry. Fulton County refused to issue the chain a business license and the issue is now before the federal appellate court.
The ordinance passed Tuesday is largely symbolic. It won’t be effective until Dec. 1 when the city starts delivering services, and it will be superseded by a new state law expected to sail through the General Assembly when it convenes in January.
Other, meatier ordinances addressing adult entertainment will be adopted after the city enacts zoning laws in December. In addition to regulating what can be depicted, cities are empowered to dictate where adult businesses can locate.
Jeri Colton, a 42-year-old homemaker applauded efforts by the city to fight adult entertainment.
“I’ve been involved with a group of friends to convince the city to hire a national attorney to fight the Love Shack,” she said. “One way we can tell if the city is successful is by committing the best talents with the issues the city faces, like the Love Shack.”
Permalink | | Categories: Johns Creek
After Milton City, is Milton County next for North Fulton?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The bustle of preparation in Milton High School’s auditorium calmed Tuesday evening from a dull hum to silence as State Rep. Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta) gave the new city of Milton its marching orders.
“I want everybody to throw away the old pattern for cities,” Jones said. “We’re going to start a new city pattern.”
A quartet of men dressed in blue coat tails and knickers marched in time, carrying the U.S. and Georgia flags to represent the Sons of the Revolution and to salute the new city.
More than a dozen voices harmonized the national anthem, and a half dozen Girl Scouts crossed their hands over their hearts as they led the crowd of about 200 in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Milton’s first mayor, Joe Lockwood, raised his right hand, and with his left on the family Bible his wife Dawn held, took the oath of office as his daughter and two sons looked on beside him.
Four of the six city council members also were sworn in, as four candidates waited for a Dec. 5 runoff to decide their fates.
And from the auditorium seats, George Ragsdale, the man credited with leading Milton’s cityhood campaign, watched as Lockwood received the gavel symbolizing municipal leadership.
Lockwood extended an olive leaf to the man he defeated only a week before in the mayoral election.
“I want to express thanks to George Ragsdale,” Lockwood said. “The doors are always open, and we appreciate any and all help he can offer.”
With that statement, the celebration ended and the first city council began to start the task of running the new city.
Milton residents eager to see their new government take hold outside the reigns of Fulton county, were anxious that this was just the beginning of change.
“The work here is not finished,” said one-year Milton resident Carol Braun. “We’re hoping for not only the city, but for Milton County.”
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Milton City Council begins its work
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday was the first-ever City Council meeting in the new city of Milton. If you were there, please tell us what you saw and what you’ll remember from this historic day.
Here are some details and notes from the night from the AJC’s Marcus K. Garner.
A second blog posting contains his news story from Milton High School.
The Sons of the Revolution marked time as they marched onto the stage in Milton High School’s auditorium to present the U.S. and Georgia flags. The quartet of white-haired men in colonial blue coat tails and knickers stood at attention — with musket muzzles and flagpoles aimed to the ceiling — as the Milton High chorus harmonized the Star Spangled Banner.
Newly elected city councilwoman Karen Thurman, said the excitement of the day didn’t ease until after she was finally inaugurated and was able to begin governing the new city.
“It’s nice to have at least part of our destiny under our control,” Thurman said, remarking on the diminished control Fulton County would have in the once unincorporated area.
Thurman joined Julie Zahner Bailey, Tina D’Aversa-Williams and Rick Mohrig to be sworn in as council members by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Tom Campbell.
Campbell asked that each council member’s family join them on-stage during the swearing-in. “Do you have your family Bibles?” he asked before beginning the oath. Children of several council members held the Bibles in place during the oath.
Newly elected Mayor Joe Lockwood was joined onstage by his wife and three children, and his wife held his Bible during the oath.
John McMillan, one of the volunteers who helped form Milton, was happy that the city was finally becoming a reality.
“We’ve got a beautiful city,” McMillan said. “If we hadn’t (formed Milton), we’d have more of the same from Fulton County — no money for improvements and a lower quality of life.”
“I keep pinching myself. I can’t believe we’re here,” said state Rep. Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta).
Jones said the new city would focus on residents, first. “It’s really a dream to form a customer-driven government,” she said. “That’s what Milton is.”
Permalink | | Categories: Milton
Historic night in Johns Creek
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Johns Creek’s new mayor, Mike Bodker, and four of the city’s new City Council members took the oath of office Tuesday night at Northview High School and got to work. If you were there, please tell us what you saw and what you’ll remember from this historic day.
Here’s a report from Johns Creek and Milton from Northside reporters Doug Nurse and Marcus K. Garner
By DOUG NURSE, dnurse@ajc.com and MARCUS K. GARNER, mgarner@ajc.com
It was like a work party at the new cities of Milton and Johns Creek Tuesday night.
The mood was festive, buoyant even, at the first-ever city council meetings of Georgia’s two newest cities, but a lot of important groundwork was laid.
Both cities swore in their mayors and four council members. They empowered themselves to levy taxes. They adopted Roberts Rules of Order. Johns Creek adopted a measure warning businesses not to sell obscene material.
But what they did was overshadowed by the mere fact they were meeting at all.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker. “The people of northeast Fulton County finally have a local government that can respond to their needs.”
When Sandy Springs proved it was possible to successfully incorporate into a city last year, the community of Milton, population 20,000, with its horse farms, golf courses and mansions launched intense efforts to incorporate to save the rural feel of the area.
About the same time, the Johns Creek area of northeast Fulton County, known for its stacked stone shops, manicured lawns — and no small amount of traffic — also began working for cityhood.
Supporters were largely motivated by a feeling that Johns Creek’s 63,000 residents had been ignored by Fulton County and wanted more control of taxes and spending.
In July, Voters approved incorporation by an overwhelming vote in each community.
The cities won’t begin actually delivering services until Dec. 1, but they need ordinances to give some framework to the government. In each city, two unresolved council posts will be settled in a Dec. 5 runoff.
In Milton, George Ragsdale, the man credited with stirring the fires of the for the new city’s rise watched from the sidelines Tuesday as the newly elected mayor and council were sworn in.
“It’s a very exciting experience to see it come to fruition,” Ragsdale said of the work bring the city to life. “I’m looking forward to being an ardent observer of what’s going on.”
Jeri Colton, a 42-year-old homemaker, was one of about 200 people attending the Johns Creek festivities at Northview High School, site of the first city council meeting. She said she came just to witness history.
“It’s self-government in the making,” she said. “We have a fresh start, a new city. How often does that happen?”
Anne Thompson, 67, said she was relieved to have the city becoming a reality.
“We have looked forward to this for many a year,” she said. “We’re tired of paying high taxes and getting nothing in return. We personally know these people (city council members). If we don’t like the way things are going, we’ll tell them.”
Permalink | | Categories: Johns Creek
What will your miss most about Lanierland?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For 36 years, Lanierland Country Music Park in Cumming hosted performances by many country music greats and up-and-comers alike, from George Jones to Billy Currington. Shows were held under a circus tent when it first opened in 1970. But even when the 4,300-seat amphitheatre was built, the venue maintained its downhome appeal, apparent in the sawdust floor, the ceiling fans and the camaraderie shared by concertgoers — many longtime ticket holders.
Lanierland announced its closing this week, and it will be missed by many country music fans on the Northside. In memory of the venerable venue, please share with us your memories and photos of the music park. Post your memories here. You can e-mail photos to northside@ajc.com
Permalink | | Categories: Hot topics
Will new lanes make Ga. 400 bearable?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So, Ga. 400 commuters, how was it? After a final weekend of construction, Ga. DOT has opened new lanes on Ga. 400 northbound between Holcomb Bridge Road and the Forsyth County line. How was your commute today, and do you think the lanes will make a big difference in your daily travels?
Note the southbound lanes are still under construction, and several of you have reported that it’s as bad as ever for southbound commuters.
Staff writer Ariel Hart is wiriting today about what’s ahead for Ga. 400. She writes:
The congestion and construction on Ga. 400 affect Michele Layne “all day long,” she says.
Her evening commute is just two exits from work in Alpharetta to home in Alpharetta, but whether or not there’s roadwork, she said, the entire eight-mile drive takes 40 minutes. Because of traffic, her company is having trouble hiring for a regular business shift because people want to work 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., she said. She sees road construction leading people to slow down when they see orange barrels and to enter traffic at ramp speeds too low for traffic speed, causing “a ton of accidents.” As she spends her day scheduling technicians to go to other construction sites, “we’re having to schedule less people in a day” because travel takes so long.
Construction mixed with Ga. 400 traffic, she said, is a mess.
For all their travails, Layne and her fellow Ga. 400 commuters finally are scheduled to enjoy the first fruits of the $47 million construction project up to McFarland Road on Ga. 400 that started last year. Even as she spoke, a stone’s throw away a piece of the construction was being lifted for the first time. Contractors spent the weekend repainting lines on northbound Ga. 400 from Holcomb Bridge Road to Windward Parkway, and by this morning, those six expanded miles were slated to carry their first morning commute.
But the relief may be an oasis, and the piecemeal opening symbolic of something larger. The rest of the project up to McFarland Road is still ongoing. The southbound lanes in that section are not scheduled to open for several weeks or maybe months, and the rest of it is scheduled to finish in 2007. And other projects loom.
Permalink | Comments (65) | Categories: Sandy Springs
Should Sandy Springs trade single-family homes for townhomes?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last week, the City Council and Mayor voted 4-3 to defer a re-zoning application along Roberts Drive –just south of the Chattahoochee River.
An Atlanta-based developer had plans to tear down three single-family homes and build 26 townhomes in their place.
Although the proposal is on track with the city’s comprehensive plan, which calls for 8 to 12 units per acre in that area, residents say the new upscale addition would still be out of place in their neighborhood of single-family homes.
Residents, who sent hundreds of e-mails and showed up en masse at Wednesday’s meeting, say they voted for the creation of a City of Sandy Springs to protect their neighborhoods from plans like this one.
The Council will re-hear the case in March but in the meantime, what do you think they should do—keep the single-family homes or approve the townhomes?
Read the proposal on the city’s Website
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Sandy Springs
Ga. 400: To travel or not to travel?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With yesterday’s announcement that nine officers would be heavily patrolling I-285 and Ga. 400 today and last-minute construction on new northbound lanes along Ga. 400, starting tonight, will anyone dare to travel the thoroughfare?
Sandy Springs Police Chief Gene Wilson said yesterday that his crackdown was “not about [creating] revenue” but “about slowing people down.”
GDOT has said it will close lanes, shift traffic and, at times, stop traffic all weekend long on the six-mile stretch of highway from Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell northward to Windward Parkway in attempts to put finishing touches on the new lanes, slated to open Monday morning.
So, what do you think about the crackdown —did you see the officers this morning, NorthSide.Talk didn’t? Will you avoid Ga. 400 at all costs this weekend?
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Sandy Springs
How are you observing Veterans Day?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you work for the government, Veterans Day is today, Friday, a holiday for many government offices. The traditional holiday is tomorrow, Nov. 11.
If you’re a northsider, you can choose from parades in Marietta, downtown Atlanta, and observances/celebrations in Dawsonville, Suwanee and Acworth.
Here’s a link to find more Veterans Day events. (Or if you like maps, here’s a link where you can see where the events are, at a glance.
If you know of an event that’s not listed above, you can post it under the comments section. This is also a place where you can offer your thoughts about this Veterans Day 2006.
Meanwhile, the Northside staff has compiled a special report for Veterans Day, telling the stories of three veterans in their own words.
You can start with a multimedia photo gallery telling the veterans stories.
Here’s a excerpt from the text of the story told by Ken Turner, a Vietnam veteran from Smyrna:
(Photo by Andy Sharp/AJC)
Branch of service: U.S. Army
I served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam conflict. I entered as a buck sergeant and retired as a staff sergeant. I went to Vietnam in August 1968 and served five months and eight days before I was seriously wounded. I have two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart.
A few years ago, one of the men in my platoon looked for my name on a traveling exhibit of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. He figured that I had died. When he didn’t see my name, he called 10 Ken Turners around the country until he found me. We now get together in Kansas once a year for a platoon reunion.
I was running an operation as platoon sergeant on Jan. 11, 1969, when we went through a mine field. Three of my men were killed and 13 wounded. I was the most severely wounded without being dead.
I lost both legs, one above the knee and one below. Both of my arms and my guts were messed up. They wanted to amputate my right arm, but I wouldn’t let them. It was harder to learn to write with my left hand than to learn to walk on prosthetic legs.
I met my wife, Lana, at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Atlanta where she was a nurse and I was doing rehabilitation. I was discharged after 21 months in the hospital.
Read the full story, see pictures and listen to audio.
Are Johns Creek’s leaders moving too fast?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When five Johns Creek residents will sit down Nov. 14 and start the business of governing the new city, four council hopefuls will be watching from the wings.
The races in Post 2 and Post 4 ended without any of the candidates winning a majority, sending the races to a Dec. 5 runoff.
In Post 2, top vote getters Dan McCabe and Michael Barker will face off, while Ivan Figueroa and Dave Rich will compete for the Post 4 seat.
Figueroa said he wasn’t surprised by the result, but still disappointed he won’t be part of the historic first council meeting.
“I’d rather be on stage than in the audience,” Figueroa said.
The council will be able to meet because it will have four of its six members, enough to conduct business under state law.
Incorporation organizer Mike Bodker was unopposed for mayor, and will join the four at the first meeting.
The Johns Creek City Council will have enough members to start governing the city as soon as Fulton County certifies election results. Incoming Mayor Mike Bodker and other council members plan to start making laws as soon as possible, even though two more seats must be decided in Dec. 5 runoffs.
Should the council hold off on making weighty decisions until all six members seated?
What would you like to see the new government do first?
Permalink | | Categories: Johns Creek
Two Johns Creek races headed for runoffs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The folks in Johns Creek haven’t been doing election parties very long, but they seemed to get this one right.
The red, white and blue balloons and American flags overwhelmed the early trapping of Christmas evident at the Rivermont Golf and Country Club as a crowd of as many as 200 people celebrated the first election in the city’s ultra-brief history.
As mayor-elect Mike Bodker doled out election results from a laptop set up in the clubhouse bar, the roaring crowd cheerfully celebrated the successes of three of the six council candidates Bodker had endorsed.
“This election is what it was all about, being able to choose,” said Patty Hanson, an aide to Bodker. “This is why we did it, no matter who wins.”
All day Tuesday, voters in this north Fulton city of upscale subdivisions and traffic-clogged streets were excited to create their own government.
“I’m in favor of keeping our tax dollars in north Fulton,” said Matt Risse, a real estate agent.
According to unofficial election results, council candidates Randall Johnson in Post 1, Liz Hausmann in Post 5 and Bev Miller in Post 6 won election to the council outright.
One of the so-called “Six Pack” candidates, Wayne Carrell, lost to Karen Richardson while two others will be forced into runoffs. They are Dan McCabe in Post 2 and Ivan Figueroa in Post 4. McCabe will face Michael Barker in a runoff, and Figueroa will be running against Dave Rich.
Bodker had endorsed the six candidates, who shared advertising costs and contact lists.
Several of the candidates had worked together for about a year to help birth the new city.
“They’ve been here since the beginning. They helped start this city,” Bodker said.
Hausmann rejected concerns that the candidates will, in her words, “walk in lockstep.”
“We were still individual candidates,” Hausmann said. “We all had our own bases of support. We just took advantage of opportunities to get in touch with each others friends. We work together well.”
Permalink | | Categories: Johns Creek
Lockwood wins as first mayor of Milton
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
George Ragsdale was headed off to bed one night six weeks ago when he tripped on a flight of stairs and tore up his knee.
The accident will go down as a significant moment in the history of the new city of Milton.
After spending 18 months leading the campaign to create a new city in this community of golf courses and horse farms, Ragsdale couldn’t hit the streets in his race to become Milton’s first mayor..
His opponent, Joe Lockwood, who had no role in the creation of the city, was on the streets each day with a friendly, folksy style, and he won an upset victory Tuesday.
“I don’t want to blame the accident, but it happened at an inopportune time,” Ragsdale said. “I couldn’t go door-to-door.”
Instead, Ragsdale, an attorney, worked the phones and waged an e-mail campaign. Because Lockwood owns a construction company, Ragsdale claimed, he could face conflicts of interest in zoning matters.
Brian and Stacy Kelly, both 36 and residents of the Providence Oaks neighborhood, were not impressed by that. They both voted for Lockwood.
“Ragsdale seemed to be running the more negative campaign,” Brian Kelly said. “That turned me way off.”
Tuesday night, all of it came back to haunt Ragsdale, who conceded around 10 p.m. at a small Italian bistro on Ga. 9 north of Windward Parkway.
Across town, in a posh home at the Atlanta National Country Club, whoops and hollers rose from more than 100 Lockwood supporters when the results were announced. Lockwood high-fived his 6-year-old son Charlie and told the crowd he was humbled. “The next step is to harness all that energy and put it towards our community,” he said.
With most of the precincts counted in Milton’s three contested City Council races, Julie Zahner Bailey held a strong lead in District 2; two other seats appeared headed for a runoff. Bill Lusk and Marty Lock were leading in District 3 and headed to a runoff on Dec. 5, as were Tim Enloe and Vincent Pisano in District 4.
Karen Thurman (District 1), Tina D’Aversa-Williams (District 5) and Rick Mohrig (District 6) were unopposed.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Milton
Inauguration plans for Johns Creek
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Committee for Johns Creek announced details of the inauguration for the new mayor and at least some of the City Council members. (Some races may be decided by runoffs the first week of December.)
Here are details of the ceremony for Tuesday, Nov. 14. It’s open to the public. The first City Council meeting will follow at 7:15 p.m.
From the Committee:
Good morning,
I hope you all are having a great election day!
Below are the details for a ceromony marking the first inaugural for the City of Johns Creek.It really going to be a great event open to all the citizens of the City with a reception following. The first City Council meeting will be held at 7:15 p.m.
I hope you all can come, and PLEASE blastpass this on to your personal mailing lists. We want to be sure everyone in the city has the opportunity to celebrate!
The Committee for Johns Creek requests your presence at the Inauguration Ceremony for the swearing in of Mayor and City Council on Tuesday November 14, 2006 at 5:00 p.m. Northview High School Auditorium Parsons Road and Highway 141 Johns Creek, Georgia
A 6:00 reception will immediately follow the ceremony at Northview and the meeting of the first City Council of the City of Johns Creek will commence at 7:15 p.m. in the auditorium. Please Join Us as We Celebrate the Birth our New City
Permalink | | Categories: Johns Creek
How Should Sandy Springs be remembered ?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In honor of the City of Sandy Springs’ first birthday, non-profit group Heritage Sandy Springs will create a time capsule that captures Sandy Springs in 2006. City officials will bury the historic treasure on Dec. 1 (the city’s birthday) and 25 years from now someone will dig it up to closely examine the relics inside.
For now, NorthSide.Talk wants to know what you think should go inside the time capsule? Perhaps it’s a Banks and Shane CD or maybe even a shiny Sandy Springs Police Department badge –what says present-day Sandy Springs to you?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Sandy Springs
Can Fulton, Johns Creek share school site?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The 42-acre lot at Medlock Bridge and State Bridge roads that was purchased by the Fulton County Board of Education could be used for more than just a high school if the school board and Johns Creek leaders would sit and talk. (“Johns Creek loses City Hall site to Fulton schools,? AJC Metro News, Oct. 10, 2006.)
Simply put, there is room there for everyone.
The land could be used for a Johns Creek City Center that could include City Hall, a justice center, including the police station and municipal courts, with the centerpiece being a high school dedicated to excellence in education. This high school could be the “Ivy? of high schools.
The school could be totally focused on education comprising arts and sciences; and since the school would be dedicated to education and getting students into the top schools in the country, it would not need sports complexes or massive fields. This school could pull in the brightest of the bright. I challenge the new city leaders and school officials to shine and deliver.
Permalink | | Categories: Johns Creek
Now accepting permits
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The new cities of Johns Creek and Milton are kinda, sorta accepting permits for rezonings and other development stuff.
Under a new program, the company hired to start up the city and provide day-to-day services began accepting applications on Thursday for what is being called a courtesy review.
In the courtesy review, staff members of CH2M Hill-OMI will review applications for compliance with existing Fulton County laws at current Fulton County fees. That way, if the City Councils adopt the Fulton County regulations intact as planned, much of the legwork on the reviews will already have been done.
But applicants have to sign a waiver of certain rights to be in the program, and agree to refile the application if the City Council rejects or tweaks the zoning laws. The City Council is expected to adopt the zoning laws, and modify them later as needed.
Fulton County has stopped accepting applications for most types of permits because it didn’t want to dump unfinished reviews on the new cities, which start delivering services Dec. 1. Developers, builders and others have protested that their projects were at an expensive standstill between the time Fulton County stopped taking applications and the time the new cities start accepting them.
Applications should be filed at the cities transition offices at 115 Perimeter Center Place NE, Suite 785, Atlanta from 8:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday.
Permalink | | Categories: Johns Creek
Milton City Hall
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Milton has a city hall.
The headquarters for the newly incorporated city of 20,000 will be located at the southeastern corner of the city at Webb Road and Deerfield Parkway at 13000 Deerfield Parkway, Building 100 at the Deerfield Professional Center.
“This will be semi-permanent, but there will be something more centrally located later on,” Annie Vermilya, executive assistant to the city manager. “We do want to move into something, but it’s not the No. 1 priority.”
The 23,000-square-foot, single-story office will house the City Council chambers, municipal court, a permit counter, offices for staff, and conference rooms. The lease is for five years at about $300,000 a year.
Construction crews could start as soon as Monday, but the building will require relatively little modification for $400,000. Staff members probably will start moving in the second week in December. In the meantime, the public should come to the city transition office at 115 Perimeter Center Place NE, Suite 785, Atlanta from 8:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Milton
A team of candidates in Johns Creek
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They’ve been called the Gang of Six.
They are six candidates for Johns Creek City Council, and they’re running as a bloc, one in each of the city’s six districts.
Some of the other candidates are bothered, claiming the six have an unfair advantage.
The six are bound by several cords: all served on the Committee for Johns Creek; all are supported by incoming Mayor Mike Bodker; they have attended various functions together – often without other candidates being invited; and they share the same political consultant, Mark Rountree of Landmark Communications, who happens to be a University of Georgia fraternity brother of Bodker’s.
The six are: Post 1, Randall Johnson; Post 2, Dan McCabe; Post 3, Wayne Carrel; Post 4, Ivan Figueroa; Post 5, Liz Hausmann; Post 6, Bev Miller. There are 17 candidates in all, excluding the mayor. Bodker is unopposed.
Some Johns Creek residents are concerned that the Johns Creek mayor’s post, already one of the most powerful in Georgia, will be more powerful if Bodker is surrounded by supporters.
Bodker, who has voiced his support for the six at private functions, said he believes they would be an efficient team. He said they don’t all agree on everything, but are able to disagree in a civil manner. He said he wants to avoid the kind of political dysfunction that plagues Fulton County.
Bodker also said he believes he can work with anyone who is elected, even though he may have supported the opponent.
Post 1 candidate Randall Johnson said the six candidates came together because they knew each other from their time on the Committee for Johns Creek, and got along with one another. He said he approached the others about introducing him to voters in their districts and promised to do the same for them in his.
The networking has worked in sign placement as well. The Rivermont Country Club on Nesbit Ferry Road has signs for the six all in a row. Three signs for another candidate were on the ground. Chris Cupit, a member of the Governor’s Commission for Johns Creek and owner of Rivermont Country Club, said Hausmann asked for permission to erect a sign, and then Miller. Eventually all six had asked. He said their sign placements were not endorsements by him, that he would allow other candidates to put their signs up if they asked first.
Evan Vayhinger, candidate for District 4, had three signs amid the others, but they were lying on the ground. Cupit said Vayhinger had asked and been given permission to put up signs.
Johnson said he selected Rountree after asking around for a consultant to help him. The bloc of six wasn’t a defined campaign strategy, he said.
The most overt group campaigning they’ve done occurred a couple of weeks ago in a full-page advertisement in the Johns Creek Herald. The six candidates all agreed to split the $1,200 cost.
Photo caption: Signs for six Johns Creek candidates who are campaigning as a team, at Rivermont, a subdivision off Nesbit Ferry Road. Photo by Doug Nurse/AJC.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Johns Creek
Is your water bill through the roof?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Life in the land of manicured lawns has just gotten a little pricier, as some Forsyth County residents are discovering.
Forsyth and 15 other counties in metro Atlanta are under a deadline to start imposing water rates that are toughest on the biggest users.
An $800 monthly water bill sent to Alissa Shreeve of Cumming is being investigated. Her bill is typically about $22.
Established to manage water and wastewater needs in metro Atlanta, the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District requires that water providers adopt a rate plan this year that charges customers more for using large volumes of water.
Forsyth County initially wanted to have the rates in place before outdoor watering reached its peak this summer but was delayed by technical problems with its billing.
In recent weeks, when bills with the higher rates for big-volume users started hitting mailboxes, the county’s phones started ringing and terse e-mails began flying.
Bills were a few pennies cheaper for residents who use 6,000 gallons or less a month. But those who pour tens of thousands of gallons of water into their lawns saw double and triple-digit increases.
Some residents had “a bit of cardiac shock,” said County Commissioner Charles Laughinghouse.
Has your water bill increased? Share your story or your comments on the rate structure. Have water rates made you change any of your water habits?
Permalink | | Categories: Hot topics
Will tax promise hold in the new cities?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Supporters of the new cities of Johns Creek and Milton promised residents their city taxes would be at the same level they’re paying now in unincorporated Fulton County.
But the tax freeze approved by the Legislature has a loophole that could lead to higher taxes for some.
The good news? It’s unlikely that the city portion of your tax bill will go up.
It seems that when the state Legislature approved a cap on the property tax rate at 4.731 mills, the current Fulton County rate for unincorporated areas, it did not include rules to keep taxes from rising if the taxable value, or assessed value, of the property increases.
City and state officials say the loophole is easily remedied. (Read the story by Doug Nurse)
But that hasn’t stopped some candidates for City Council in Johns Creek and Milton from trying to make an issue of it. Some city council candidates, Eddie Moore in Milton and Karen Richardson in Johns Creek, have promised to protect voters from such “back-door” tax increases.
State Rep. Jan Jones (R-Milton), who sponsored the bill creating Milton, fired off a blistering email to Moore, saying,
“Your glossy 8 1/2 X 13 inch mail piece asks: “Will you receive a surprise in your next property tax bill?” The answer is no, if you mean a property tax increase of any significance next year as suggested by the gaping-mouthed residents viewing a property tax bill in your piece. Did you or Karen or your shared campaign consultant, Todd Rehm, bother to calculate the “present?” How about if I share with you the results of simple calculations?
“How about less than $14 after-tax net savings for a $500,000 home as compared to the $33 after-tax net savings because of the more significant property tax rate cap that Rep. Burkhalter and I included in the legislation after two years of extensive work? Did you realize that the three new Fulton cities are the first in Georgia to offer property tax rate protection? “
Jones and Rep. Mark Burkhalter have promised a referendum giving voters the option of adding a city homestead exemption identical to the one in place in unincorporated Fulton.
Mike Bodker says the cities could also have the option of rolling back the millage to make the higher assessments revenue neutral.
What do you think? Should the homestead exemption be approved? Or should the millage be rolled back? Should the changes be permanent? Should voters have the option of repealing the freeze?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Johns Creek, Milton
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