City's Plans For Its Future Nearly Finalized

The painstaking process of planning for the future growth of Gwinnett County's newest and biggest city 20 years out continued at City Hall Thursday.

"Citizen input is the most critical part of this process," said Mayor Mike Mason. "We have listened and we will continue to listen to what our citizens want their city to look like by the year 2033."

Thursday's Comprehensive Plan community meeting was the fourth in a series of informational meetings and it drew one of the largest crowds so far.

 Allie Looft, an urban planner with Pond & Company the Peachtree-Corners-based engineering firm that is coordinating the Comprehensive Plan for the city, estimated that about 70 people attended.

Large maps that incorporated citizen recommendations from previous meetings were set up around the City Hall meeting room and Looft and Pond & Company Project Manager Joel Reed were on hand to answer questions. 

Among the many suggestions she received from attendees, Looft said "Community development and shaping an identity for the new city, were among the chief concerns, along with unifying the many diverse communities and neighborhoods."

Other recommendations included more greenways and open space as well as a Town Center that incorporates high-quality mixed use development.

Doug Spohn echoed the sentiment about a Town Center. Spohn, who developed Duluth's town center said, "You have a city that has a sense of community, but not a sense of place."

Referring to the 20.8-acre city-owned parcel along Peachtree Parkway, Spohn said, "It's very important that this area become your city center. It's the only place you have for it."

Spohn said he'd like to see Peachtree Corners develop a town center that is a "hybrid" between Duluth and Atlantic Station. "Out here your population needs something that is above what Duluth has and below what Atlantic Station has," he said.

Max Lehmann said, "To me, it would be very important to see a redevelopment on the Winters Chapel Road Corridor from Spalding all the way to Peachtree Indudstrial and specifically from Peeler to Peachtree Industrial. That area of Peachtree Corners would do well with transitional growth in my opinion." 

City Council and the Planning Commission will review the draft plan on August 6th and 13th at their respective meetings and incorporate final revisions before sending it to the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) at their August 20th meeting.

 The ARC and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs will review the plan to make sure it’s complete and implements good planning practice. Their comments will be incorporated and the city will adopt the plan at its October 15th meeting. 

Looft encouraged citizens to visit the project website at http://peachtreecornersplan.blogspot.com.

"We have had a lot of opportunities for public involvement along the way, including meetings, interviews, and a survey. Now, we’re in the final stages but we would love for the community to review the draft plan and meeting materials to understand how we got to this point."