Alpharettans have turned a bunch of white building blocks into something they may be willing to pay $29 million for this November.
The Alpharetta City Council approved a measure this week to hold a bond referendum that would fund a downtown development project covering 22 acres on the east side of Main Street north of Old Milton Parkway.
The latest image of the project, gleaned from citizen input over the past two months, shows two rows of small commercial shops lining a grassy avenue leading toward a new City Hall, library and parking deck.
Even those against the idea like the new picture.
"I oppose the original plan for many reasons and compliment the planners for developing a much better plan -- which I still oppose," said resident Jim Lappe.
Urban Collage, an Atlanta-based municipal planning firm, assembled the image based on residents' comments at public meetings and more than 60 online comments. Most residents who attended one of four public information sessions or submitted comments online are intrigued.
"I think it looks fantastic," resident Marty Cleypool said while at Monday's public session at City Hall. The idea of dressing up downtown, he said, will spur interest in the district and encourage nearby property owners to follow suit.
If approved by voters, the bonds would help build a complex that includes a 47,000-square foot City Hall, a 450-space parking deck, a 1-acre town green and a 5-acre park. The site would also be home to a 25,000-square foot library, part of a $275 million Atlanta-Fulton County Library building project.
Plans also call for relocating and narrowing a portion of Haynes Bridge Road. The spaces for shops along the town green would be leveled and the ground leased to private developers.
Officials said financing the 20-year bond could be managed without raising taxes because two current bonds are set to be paid off in 2012.
Alpharetta is one of a number of metro Atlanta cities with plans to revitalize their city centers.
Snellville recently purchased 11 acres near City Hall and a new police headquarters between Oak Road and Wisteria Drive. The project, in the early marketing phase for developing the property, also includes acquiring right-of-way in a nearby Livable Center Initiative district to make improvements along those streets.
Sugar Hill had $14 million in the bank before it broke ground on its new downtown district last year. Engineering drawings are due soon on a new, three-story City Hall and work is about 75 percent complete on the West Broad Street Amenity Pond that includes an amphitheater and terraced seating.
Ground was broken recently on a streetscape project running on Broad Street from Ga. 20 to Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. The project includes a new street, 15-foot-wide sidewalks, street lamps and underground utilities in a bid to attract commercial growth.
Alpharetta officials will take a month to gather more online comments on the latest proposal, then release more detailed drawings, said Assistant City Manager James Drinkard.
Kyle Caswell, who serves on the city planning commission, said he attended the first and last public information session to gauge whether the public input process worked. As the project changed to reflect more citizen input, Caswell said he noticed the tone of comments online moved from skeptical to positive.
It's all making for a downtown he hopes will draw business and visitors.
"I'll come. I want to hang out here," he said, "and I live on the other side of 400."
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