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September 2007
Does your worrisome intersection make the list?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
OK, here’s a wild guess.
If you are a Gwinnett driver, you may know of one or two intersections that cause you a bit of concern.
Just a guess.
One such intersection mentioned to me recently by Snellville motorists is where Rockdale Circle meets U.S. 78, an area of increased traffic as development moves to Grayson and Loganville.
The problem, they said, is when westbound motorists on U.S. 78 are turning left onto Rockdale. Drivers now can do so with a green arrow and on a green light after yielding to oncoming traffic. (in engineering lingo, this is called protected/permissive - a protected turn followed by a permissive turn.)
My fellow Snellvillians said turns should be allowed only with the green arrow. The volume and speed of eastbound traffic and problems with visibility caused by motorists turning north make turning on a regular green light too dangerous, they said.
So far, however, the numbers don’t back up the angst.
Gwinnett County Department of Transportation officials said accident figures for that location are not overly alarming. During the three-year period of 2004, 2005 and 2006, only one accident occurred there involving the described left turn. Of the 29 total accidents at the intersection, 20 of them were rear-end collisions. None of the accidents caused fatalities. Such numbers are what might be expected at that intersection, they said.
The one caveat is that the DOT figures do not include 2007, when the citizens recall seeing or hearing about accidents. The DOT is still compiling 2006 accident data, which it hopes to complete in a couple of months.
Transportation officials did supply me with the latest complete list - the one for 2005 — showing the100 Gwinnett intersections with the highest number of accidents.
U.S. 78 and Rockdale didn’t make the list, but U.S. 78’s intersections with Killian Hill Road, Rosebud Road, Ross Road and Hewatt Road did. (The accident totals for those were 90, 42, 40 and 39, respectively.) So did the intersection of Scenic Highway (Ga. 124) at Ronald Reagan Parkway (72 accidents). And where Wisteria Road and Harbor Oaks Road meet Scenic Highway (67), There also were a few mentions of where West Park Place and East Park Place wrap around U.S. 78.
Topping the chart were the trouble spots you might expect — Interstate 85’s connections with Jimmy Carter Boulevard, which accounted for 156 accidents on the southbound side and 130 on the northbound; with Pleasant Hill Road, which racked up 101 on the northbound side and 74 on the southbound, and with University Parkway (101 on northbound side).
Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Sugarloaf Parkway, as well as other sites on Jimmy Carter Boulevard and on Pleasant Hill Road, were other common entries.
Click here for the full list.
Chuck Bailey, division director for Gwinnett DOT’s traffic engineering and planning, said accidents are just one factor transportation officials look at when a problem is reported. They also look at volume of traffic and other conditions.
Kim Conroy, operations and maintenance deputy director for Gwinnett DOT, said citizens with a concern about an intersection should call the department’s service request line at 770-822-7474 and provide as many details as possible. You also can E-mail a message about the problem from the county Web site at www.gwinnettcounty.com.
Some problems the county can handle itself. Others may need to be referred to the state, but starting with the county is still recommended, Conroy said.
What intersections concern you the most? Why?
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Up for sharing your childhood school photo?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My son’s school photo this year will be a keeper.
Picture day at South Gwinnett High School — by luck or by design — fell on a Wednesday. On every Wednesday of a football game week, South Gwinnett’s marching band members, football players, cheerleaders and others involved in school activities wear “dress clothes” to school.
As my youngest adjusted his tie that morning, I sent up a silent praise for dress-up day.
The reality, however, is that all school photos are keepers — at least to me. I have never been able to resist an “8-by-10-two-5-by-7s-two-3-by-5s-eight-wallets” package.
Even the year my daughter took a pair of Fiskars school scissors to her bangs, leaving voluminous gaps that had to be leveled into a microscopic fringe. Even during years of strained expressions, missing teeth, braces and cowlicks.
I come by this honestly. My mom has guarded her entire collection, displaying my sisters’ and my stair-step progressions on her hall wall — in view of any potential blackmailer.
One of the most legendary is my fourth-grade portrait, for which I decided to “roll” my hair. Never mind that I had never rolled my hair before. Never mind that my mother suggested I not. The big pink sponge rollers awaited, and I wanted to be “pretty.”
The result was akin to a head-banded version of “The Flying Nun.”
I imagine most adults can think back to at least one school photo that turned out - shall we say - less attractive than they had hoped.
Yet - at least in the days before elementary schools had yearbooks — we would cut out the smallest ones, write our names on the back and swap them with classmates. Families sent bigger photos to relatives and safeguarded the rest.
Bryn-Alan Photography, which takes more than a million school photos annually and handled South Gwinnett’s this year, has been in school photography since the 1920s.
A lot has changed. Black and white has gone to color. Digital photography has improved the process. More photos are “retouched.” Background choices have increased. And in some areas, students can even be photographed with their pets, said Bryn-Alan President Harvey Parido, recalling one in Florida who brought in an owl and an alligator for photographs (not together, thank goodness).
But parents still prefer the classic poses, Parido said.
I agree. Those time-honored, simple photos say it all, not only through expressions, but through hairstyles and fashions that can date a photo with amazing accuracy. Or transport you back to a time and friends you keep tucked far, far away.
Parido said among the millions of youngsters his company has photographed have been early actors, politicians, prominent athletes or others later noted for high achievements.
“You never know what that child might grow up to be some day,” he said.
I asked some of Gwinnett’s leaders if they would share a childhood photo for this column.
A handful of brave ones with hearty senses of humor handed them over.
It was almost like swapping class photos again. (Check them — and my fourth-grade beauty — out here.)
What was your worst childhood school photo? Would you let anyone see it?
(Have a legendary school photo of your own? Click here to share it on ajc.com.)
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Following the ups and downs of school growth?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
News has been a little confusing for followers of schools in the South Gwinnett area.
First there was a report that student enrollment for the South Gwinnett cluster of schools — as well as the county as a whole — was less than the county projected.
Then, a breakdown showed that South Gwinnett schools have a high number of trailers this year. AJC Story: Overcrowding puts students in trailers
I was curious how these things went together, and also, how they match up with building plans for county schools.
I’ve learned a few details.
Not only did the South Gwinnett cluster not grow as much as was expected this past year, it didn’t grow at all. It lost students.
The student count last week showed that the only South school with an enrollment higher than last year’s is Snellville Middle School, and that was only by 7 students. Collectively, the cluster dropped by 206 students from last year to this year.
That gap is narrowed as students continue to enroll, but it marks a distinct change for the area.
(A quick note: A school cluster is a high school and the middle and elementary schools that feed into it. South Gwinnett’s cluster includes South Gwinnett High School, Snellville Middle School, W.C. Britt Elementary, Norton Elementary and Magill Elementary.)
As for trailers, South schools have the second highest number of any cluster in the county. (Central Gwinnett had the highest.) Compared to last year, South’s schools also had the highest net increase in trailers of any cluster in the county.
So enrollment has gone down but trailers have gone up?
Yes, but it’s not that simple, I’m told.
Because of the lower enrollment, not all trailers on school campuses around Snellville may be needed this year. Of those that are, some are used for special programs offered at the schools. Class size also affects the number of trailers, school officials said.
South’s schools are overcrowded, however. They are over their capacity by 1,765 students.
Rosebud Elementary — a new school set to open next year in the South cluster is expected to offer some relief, particularly for Norton Elementary, said Sloan Roach, a spokeswoman for Gwinnett County Public Schools.
A new middle school, set to open in 2010 will further ease conditions.
Also, an addition at South Gwinnett High School in 2011 and a new elementary school in 2012 have been identified as needs, though funding has not been approved, Roach said.
Elsewhere in the county, far more is on the drawing board. Gwinnett County is aggressively working on not only new schools, but three new clusters of schools,
The new Archer cluster will relieve Grayson and Dacula. The new Lanier cluster will relieve North Gwinnett, and a new Mountain View cluster will relieve the Mill Creek, Collins Hill and Dacula schools. There is a long list of building projects for those areas.
School officials have said they want to look at how the struggling housing market has affected growth in Gwinnett. At this time, they don’t think the enrollment dip in the South cluster indicates a trend.
“Our forecast still calls for growth in the South cluster,” Roach said. “That said, we update our forecast each year to make adjustments based on the current year and changes in growth patterns. Our planners typically do that analysis in February. At that point, we would have a better idea on any changes to our forecast.”
Do you think the South Gwinnett school cluster will see continued growth? What about other Gwinnett school clusters?
Permalink | Comments (19) | Categories: Susan Gast
Behind every rezoning sign there’s a story
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Orange, yellow and blue signs dot the landscape around Snellville. The blue are requests for annexation into city limits. Yellow is for rezonings. Orange reflects land use changes.
You can see them along U.S, 78, Temple Johnson and Rosebud roads. So far this year, Snellville has received 10 annexation proposals and 18 rezoning requests.
Each one has a story. Each requires time and attention. Some have significant opposition. All raise questions.
Conflicts are common when the drive for services, development and profit clash with the fight for quality of life.
Rarely are the answers clear cut. When is a landowner protecting his rights? When is he being greedy? When are nearby homeowners justified? When are they unreasonable? When is change and growth OK?
Here’s just one case to try on for size:
Long ago and not so far away, a four-room schoolhouse stood at Rosebud and Brushy Fork roads. The school house eventually burned. A red brick ranch was built in 1965.
Five years later, an equipment manufacturing company settled onto property next to the home. Allowing the industry to put down roots amounted to a “spot zoning,” Snellville planners said.
Remember, this was 37 years ago in rural Gwinnett County. The area between Snellville and Loganville, though residential, was filled with wooded lots and green pastures.
Fast forward to today. The area is no longer rural. Subdivision after subdivision has sprouted around the industrial plant, along with a couple of churches, a school and a golf course. Recently built homes are still for sale just up the street.
The company, Tomco2 Systems — which manufactures carbon dioxide equipment, including storage tanks — has grown. Its Web site says it is the worldwide leader in carbon dioxide products and services, with a China market and international shipping. Tomco2 has been a good neighbor, according to homeowners who spoke at a recent public meeting. (Company officials have not commented in response to my calls on Wednesday,)
Today the ranch home sits abandoned, Steve Moon, who bought the home in 1993 and lived there until 2003, says noise from Tomco2 makes it unsuitable for daily life (particularly sleeping). He wants his property annexed into the city of Snellville and rezoned from residential to office/professional so it can be the site for a day-care center.
Area homeowners oppose Moon’s request, saying it departs from the residential nature of the area. They’ve lived with Tomco2 as a neighbor and do not mind its presence, but if a day care opens, a slippery slope to further commercialization is created, they say.
Homeowners also argue that the intersection of Brushy Fork and Rosebud is too dangerous for a day-care center. And they don’t want what they feel will be additional traffic.
Lonnie Todd, president of LT Construction, Inc. is working with Today’s Kids Inc. to develop the “child development center” at the site. He said the noise from Tomco2 will not bother the day care. The center will only be open during weekdays, and it will not create additional traffic, he said. And the intersection is much safer for a day-care center than locations along U.S. 78, he says.
Some 80 e-mails opposing the change have been sent to Snellville Planning Commission members and others in recent weeks.
Snellville city planners and the planning commission have recommended approval, saying the child care center would provide a service and be a reasonable and “transitional” use for the site. They’ve added stipulations, including one for a traffic study to determine safety needs at the intersection.
This is not the first time a change has been pursued for that location. In 2005, Gwinnett County turned down a request to rezone it for a convenience store. The county objected to that land use and objects to current plans for a day care.
The matter is now going through “dispute resolution” between the county and city. No Snellville City Council action on the rezoning or annexation will occur until after that process is complete, which could take months.
Moon acknowledges that he has had previous chances to sell the property. The county offered $245,000 for it for a new fire station, he said. And Tomco2 offered to purchase the land for a parking lot.
But Moon turned down both because the amounts were based on the residential zoning and were low. If the property is going to be used for something other than a residence, he should be paid a commercial rate, Moon said. His contract to sell the property for a day care will pay $500,000, he said.
Mike Beaudreau, county commissioner for that area, said this is a case of the property owner trying to “extract every last penny from his property.”
“This is another example of if they don’t get what they want from the county, they go to the city,” Beaudreau said. “I have confidence the mayor and council will see that this is not a congruent use for the property.”
So, what do you think? In this battle of growth, who wears the white hat?
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