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Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Milton City Council builds bridges with Cherokee Commission
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Milton City Council is traipsing up to Canton today to call on the Cherokee County Commission at its regular meeting ideally to build bridges for future discussions.
“It’s just a friendly introduction,” said Council member Julie Zahner Bailey. “We’re interested in developing a positive, collaborative relationship.”
Some council members are concerned about possible spillover effect of projects in Cherokee County into the city of Milton, such as Ruby Forest, a large multi-use development in Cherokee County that could end up sending hundreds of vehicles into Milton each day.
The need for cross-border comraderie was made plain in November when Zahner Bailey approached the Forsyth County Commission about postponing a decision on a Development of Regional Impact on the border with Milton. The commissioners said they were sympathetic to the city’s concerns, but approved the project anyway.
There isn’t any particular agenda for today’s meeting between the two governing bodies, Bailey said. City leaders met with Fulton County Board of Education officials last week, and city staff is working on setting up meetings with elected officials with Forsyth County and Johns Creek.
“We’re all in this together,” said Council member Tina D’Aversa Williams. “We should all try to listen to each othter. We can learn a lot.”
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Can north Fulton handle more traffic?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
All by themselves, the ultra-swanky new hotel, million-dollar condos and Rodeo-drive style shopping coming out of the ground in Alpharetta would be enough to turn heads.
But a city that took 30 years to transform itself into the upscale residential and business hub that it is today doesn’t seem content to stop there.
The mammoth Prospect Park development is only one part of a flurry of proposed new growth in Alpharetta.
Local leaders recently finalized a deal with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for a new 12,000-seat amphitheater and arts complex in the midst of a 200-acre mixed-use development under construction. The nearly 150-year-old city is charging ahead with plans to completely gut the core of its downtown district sometime this year and build anew.
And now the same intersection of Old Milton Parkway and Ga. 400 where Thomas Enterprises is building its upscale mixed-use development is being considered for two more developments so large that they will dump tens of thousands of vehicle trips into an intersection already stressed at rush hour. And there’s still one more corner of the intersection left to develop.
“Holy cow,” said the city’s economic development director, James Drinkard, responding to the sudden surge in development.
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