Author Archives: jimgilvin

Alpharetta’s 2013 Budget

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This week the City of Alpharetta unveiled the proposed $78 million budget for 2013. Monday night will be our first public discussion of next year’s budget so if you are curious about what will be discussed you can find it on the city’s website here: http://bit.ly/JIZBuC

I will be glad to hear any feedback you have to share about the budget and will do my best to answer any questions you may have but please understand that at this point I am only a few days into the process of reviewing the 428 page document.

The Avalon Decision

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Two weeks ago the Alpharetta City Council decided a zoning case which may turn out to be the most important decision any of us make over the next four years. The choice was whether or not to approve a large mixed use development called Avalon for the 80+ acre eyesore currently sitting on the doorstep of our community.

Several years ago the parcel on Old Milton Parkway was zoned for a much larger project called Prospect Park but economic realities and the global economy turned that grand idea into a vacant mud pit with a rotting parking garage. Eventually the property succumbed to foreclosure and more than a year ago the property was bought by a company named North American Properties.

Last month North American Properties came before City Council to ask for approval of their new Avalon project. The new proposal would be a much smaller development with more realistic expectations. It would create less traffic than the original project and reduce the number of housing units by several hundred but key differences including the addition of an apartment component also made the new proposal problematic.

However Avalon still shared one key characteristic with the previous Prospect Park proposal for the site… Avalon has the potential to give Alpharetta an iconic retail center that could cement our position as the most desirable place to live, shop and work in the state of Georgia for decades to come.

With that in mind I started evaluating the ramifications of such a project within a few days of taking office. To review such a complex issue was challenging and over the past few months city council members have spent hundreds of hours reviewing data and working with the Community Development Department’s staff to determine the feasibility of what was being proposed.

Over that time we tried to identify and set forth reasonable conditions for the project to ensure it turns out as promised while allowing the developer the flexibility needed to ensure its economic viability. We spoke with hundreds of constituents and listened closely to their recommendations as well as those of the Planning Commission before we finally sat down to decide the issue. And after the months of research and deliberation the Alpharetta City Council voted unanimously to approve the Avalon project under 53 specific conditions.

In all of the time I spoke to people about the Avalon project I don’t recall ever hearing a single person who absolutely did not want the project to be approved under any circumstances. Scores of people supported or objected to certain aspects of the proposal but every one of them believed that the project could be good for the city under certain circumstances. I listened to every one of those people and I took each of their opinions into consideration before deciding my vote on the issue.

Back on November 10, 2011, two days after my election, I wrote this blog post thanking the people of Alpharetta for the opportunity to represent them on City Council. In that post I wrote:

I know that as an elected representative of over 50,000 people there is no way to satisfy every person every time but I give you my word that I will always do these three things:

1) I will always listen to your concerns.

2) I will always keep an open mind.

3) I will always be honest with you regarding my positions.

I wish I could say every person in Alpharetta supports the Avalon project with the conditions we approved. But I know better. All I can do is stay true to my word and keep those three promises.

Feel free to ask any questions you have in the comments section of this post.

The Avalon project in Alpharetta moves forward

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Below is a statement released yesterday by the City of Alpharetta. It is a call for public input on the zoning application submitted for a new development to replace the rotting parking garage currently sitting at the doorstep of our city on Old Milton Parkway.

I encourage all of you to participate in this process. It will have an enormous impact on our community, our quality of life and our property values for years to come.

We Want To Hear From You

North American Properties, the new owner of the 80-acre site at the northwest corner of GA-400 and Old Milton Parkway that was formerly known as Prospect Park, has submitted to the City ofAlpharetta their proposed plan for developing the site. As envisioned by the owner, the project, now named “Avalon”, would be a development consisting of retail, office, hotel, and residential uses with additional outparcels set aside for future sale or development.

While the formal public hearings for the Avalon Proposal are tentatively scheduled to begin on March 1st when the proposal is presented to the Planning Commission, the City ofAlpharetta is seeking early feedback on the owner’s plans.

Please take a few moments to visit our Open City Hall online discussion about the new Avalon Proposal.  There you can view the proposed site plan for Avalon and the table comparing the uses proposed by North American Properties to those that were approved for the formerProspectPark.  Then, let us know your initial impressions, thoughts, concerns or suggestions. Your comments may be helpful to North American Properties as its plans are further refined and may also assist the Planning Commission and the City Council as they consider the proposal.

Also, please consider sharing this opportunity with your friends and neighbors.  We want to hear from all interested citizens.

Thank you for your participation.

James T. Drinkard
Assistant City Administrator, City of Alpharetta

1/14/2012 – The week in review

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My first full week on Alpharetta City Council has been a busy one.

It began on a very sad note as Alpharetta Police Officer Reece Bonilla was laid to rest on Monday. I never had the opportunity to meet Officer Bonilla but by all accounts he was a fine young man and my prayers and thoughts go out to his family. There has been a tremendous outpouring of love and support from Officer Bonilla’s fellow officers in the Alpharetta Public Safety Department and I hope that his family takes some comfort in knowing how much we appreciate his service to this community.

Monday Night’s City Council meeting brought accolades from the city’s financial auditors and served as an excellent reminder of the terrific job Director Tom Harris has done running Alpharetta’s Finance Department. Alpharetta continues to thrive in a challenging environment due in large part to Director Harris’ leadership and the hard work of his staff. Thanks for a job well done guys.

The city also awarded new landscape maintenance contracts for our parks and recreation facilities as well as the medians and right of ways along our roads. Alpharetta is special and I think everyone on council realizes that we can do a better job of highlighting our beauty by paying more attention to some of the details that may have been overlooked in the past. With the new contracts I believe we are moving in the right direction while continuing to act in a fiscally responsible way.

Council also voted to make changes to Alpharetta’s Tree Ordinance on Monday. The tree ordinance sets forth the conditions and procedures which allow property owners to cut down and alter trees on private property.

Alpharetta’s wooded areas and large specimen trees help give our city a beautiful setting and overall we have done a good job of protecting that environment. But at times the tree ordinance also failed to provide reasonable protection for innocent homeowners who wanted to make reasonable changes to their property.

The complexities of the changes we made prevent me from going into too much detail at this time but suffice it to say that after a thorough review of all the changes I believe our code now does a better job of protecting our residents from overly burdensome regulations while still protecting the trees that help make Alpharetta beautiful. I commend Councilman Mike Kennedy, Engineering / Public Works Director Pete Sewczwicz and City Attorney Sam Thomas for their work on this issue.

In addition to the council meeting I also spent alot of time this week getting to know the employees and volunteers that make Alpharetta’s Recreation and Parks Department a world class operation. I am honored that Mayor Belle Isle nominated me to serve as our council’s liaison to Parks And Rec and it has been great to meet some of the people that make my son’s baseball and daughter’s softball programs possible. I will let you know more about these great public servants and what they do for our community in the near future.

Thanks again for this opportunity to serve our community and please take the time to stay engaged in the issues that affect us all.

And so it begins

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Last night the greatest honor of my life took place. I was sworn in to serve as a city council representative for the people of Alpharetta. It is an honor that I take very seriously and for the next four years I will represent the people of this wonderful city to the very best of my ability.

As I adapt to my new role so will this blog.  GA Jim was originally created to let people know about events that interested me and affected our lives in Alpharetta. After I made the decision to run for city council, GA Jim became my campaign website. Now it is time for GA Jim to change once again.

GA Jim will now serve as the personal blog of a man on his journey of public service. I will continue to focus on the issues that interest me and affect our lives but from the perspective of a man elected to represent more than 50,000 people. My goal is to keep readers informed and engaged while giving some unique insight into the life of a public servant. I hope you enjoy the new iteration of GA Jim and I encourage you to share your comments as we make this journey together.

Thank you, Alpharetta

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In case you haven’t heard, I won Tuesday’s Alpharetta City Council election by a huge margin.

We could never have won this election without the tremendous effort of dedicated volunteers and the encouragement we received from many of you. I will never lose sight of that fact as I serve you over the next four years and I will be eternally grateful for this opportunity.

And now that the challenge of a political campaign is over it is time to focus our efforts on the challenges ahead. Voters approved the new City Center project so the next four years should be exciting as we implement a plan to completely revitalize our downtown community. I will also work hard to improve Alpharetta’s traffic situation while keeping our taxes low and working to restrain high density development that will negatively impact our schools and quality of life.

There is a lot to be done and it won’t be easy. But neither was winning an election against an entrenched incumbent who enjoyed the support of the political establishment. With your help we achieved that victory Tuesday so there is no reason to think we can’t meet the new challenges ahead.

I know that as an elected representative of over 50,000 people there is no way to satisfy every person every time but I give you my word that I will always do these three things:

1)     I will always listen to your concerns.

2)     I will always keep an open mind.

3)     I will always be honest with you regarding my positions.

Regardless of the issue in question you deserve those three things from your elected representatives and you have my word that you will get them from me.

And I hope that all of you will feel comfortable calling me or emailing if you have any questions or concerns over the next four years. My cell phone number is 404 271-2716 and my personal email address is jimgilvin@bellsouth.net . Please accept this note as an open invitation to reach out to me whenever you wish.

Thank you again for this opportunity to serve you on city council. I am truly humbled by this honor and will serve you to the very best of my ability.

Sincerely,

Jim Gilvin

An open and honest debate

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Last night the Alpharetta High School debate team hosted a candidate’s forum. In my remarks to the crowd I pointed out that open, honest debate is what elections are supposed to be about. I emphasized the word “supposed” because the political discourse in this city has become anything but an open and honest debate.

Almost two months ago I declared my candidacy for Alpharetta City Council post 4 because I knew my opponent’s track record and could not bear the thought of her running unopposed. At the time I knew it would be difficult to win a race against an entrenched, establishment candidate but I felt the people of Alpharetta deserved to have another option and regardless of the outcome I looked forward to an open and honest debate about the future of our city.

For the last two months I have done everything in my power to keep this campaign focused on the future of Alpharetta. Scandals and allegations have surrounded my opponent from nearly day one yet I have refused to get caught up in mudslinging. Instead I have devoted all of my time and energy to getting out my message: growth we can live with, leadership on traffic issues and low taxes.

But an open and honest debate takes two people and today’s Alpharetta Revue is a perfect example of what I have been up against.

Page 24 of the October 27, 2011 edition of the Alpharetta Revue contains a candidate profile that my opponent submitted for publication. In Mrs. Oakes’ profile she claims, “Then we must clean up some problems created before I arrived. For example, Prospect Park and Windward Mill were both voted on by council before I arrived”.

That statement is blatantly false. Mrs. Oakes did vote for the Windward Mill development which added seven condominium towers to one of the most congested intersections in Alpharetta. I know that because I was there and it is a matter of public record. But you don’t have to take my word for it, just turn to page 5 of the same paper.

On page 5 there is an article explaining how Mrs. Oakes publicly denied voting for Windward Mill during a debate. Then when the reporter confronted her with the truth, Mrs. Oakes quickly changed her story and responded, “I think it was the right thing at the right location.”

So on page twenty four Mrs. Oakes claims that she did not vote for a high density mixed use project and asks voters to re-elect her so she can clean up the mess left by her predecessor. But on page five Mrs. Oakes admits the truth and defends her vote for the project by saying it was the right thing to do.

It is simply impossible to conduct an open and honest debate with that kind of politician.

Alpharetta is at a critical crossroads of our future. These are challenging times and we can’t afford four more years of false claims with abrupt position switches.

We need leadership. For more than a decade I provided that leadership in protecting the quality of life that makes Alpharetta special. I have the track record to prove it.

So I ask you to please vote for Jim Gilvin, Alpharetta City Council Post 4.

The People of Alpharetta Deserve the Truth

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On April 28, 2008 my opponent, Cheryl Oakes, voted to approve a high density mixed use project which will eventually be built at the corner of Windward Parkway and Northpoint Parkway in Alpharetta. I know this because the project called for seven high-rise condo towers to be built in my children’s school district and after months of trying to prevent its approval I was sitting in the audience when the vote was taken.

I mention this now because the Downtown Alpharetta Trade Association held a candidate forum last night and at the event I stated that my opponent for City Council Post 4 had voted to approve that project. Then something surreal happened.

My opponent stood up in front of a room full of Alpharetta voters and blatantly misstated the facts about her record.

Ms. Oakes told the people that she had not voted for the project at all. Ms. Oakes then went on to make the bizarre claim that it was actually her predecessor on council that had voted for the project before Cheryl took office in 2008.

I was stunned that a political candidate could stand up in front of a crowd and so blatantly misstate the facts.  The truth is a matter of public record.

Cheryl Oakes began her term on Alpharetta City Council on January 7, 2008 as reported here. The vote on the high density mixed use project was taken on April 28, 2008 as reported here. The public record shows that all city council members were present at the time and the vote was unanimous as you can see for yourself here.

Ms. Oakes’ predecessor was actually at the DATA forum as well and both she and a current mayoral candidate confirmed my account of the events.

There is no question that my opponent voted to add seven condominium towers to that corner of Windward Parkway. And now there is no question that she blatantly misstated the facts to the voters of Alpharetta.

I take no pleasure in pointing out what my opponent has done… but the people of Alpharetta deserve the truth.

And as a candidate for Alpharetta City Council Post 4 it is my duty to make sure they know the truth before voting on Tuesday, November 8.

The future of Alpharetta

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Tonight the City of Alpharetta had planned to approve a new Comprehensive Land Use Plan that would forever change the complexion of our community. The plan was designed to serve as a blueprint for development in Alpharetta for the next twenty years and you can find the full report here on the city’s website. But late last week the city unexpectedly postponed the vote for the proposal and it will now be decided after the November election.

Why the change?

In recent years the people of Alpharetta have been busy trying to support their families in the middle of a devastating recession and very few have had the time or energy to follow the minutiae of local zoning issues. That is why I have worked so hard to help my fellow Alpharettans understand organizations like the Atlanta Regional Commission, the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority and the Georgia Department of Transportation have been busy working with developers and Alpharetta’s Community Development Department to devise a new blueprint for our city. A blueprint which calls for thousands and thousands of high density housing units to be added within mixed use developments all along Northpoint Parkway, Haynes Bridge Road and Highway 9.

If that blueprint is approved in its current form the future of Alpharetta will be one of more traffic, lower quality of life and endless cycles of school redistricting forced on our children. To help you see what I am talking about I have illustrated the vast acreage which would be designated for high density and mixed use residential complexes in the new plan. You can click on the image to enlarge it:

Alpharetta would never be the same.

People who support the urbanization of Alpharetta have tried to minimize the effects of this drastic change but Alpharettans need only look at what happened to Sandy Springs when this kind of development occurred there. The schools suffered, the quality of life completely changed and the traffic is worse than ever before despite the addition of four MARTA stations.

Fortunately our current election season has brought a great deal of scrutiny upon the revised land use plan and as a result none of our elected officials seem anxious to vote for the proposal before facing the voters next month. Although our current mayor and city council have unanimously supported the development plan in the past, some of them may be having second thoughts. So the city has decided to postpone the decision until after the election

But let there be no misunderstanding. My opponent fully supports the plan to urbanize Alpharetta. In her four years on city council she has already approved two enormous high density mixed use projects which are stalled by the economy. And to quote her campaign website,”Cheryl pushed a new comprehensive land use plan…”.

The choice is clear. If you want our city’s future to be more high density developments with thousands and thousands of high-rise condos or apartments… you should vote for my opponent.

On the other hand if you want a city council representative whose vision of Alpharetta is one that will always be a special place to live… you should vote for Jim Gilvin on November 8th.

It really is that simple. Thank you for your support.

“T-SPLOST list doesn’t spend the money where the traffic is”

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Kyle Wingfield recently had a new column about Georgia’s proposed transportation sales tax increase, the T-SPLOST. Here is an excerpt that is particularly relevant to the residents of Alpharetta:

What’s more, 46 percent of the people in the 10-county region live OTP in Cobb, North Fulton, Dunwoody and Gwinnett. Likewise, 46 percent of the T-SPLOST’s projected revenues — $2.83 billion out of $6.14 billion — come from that northern swath.

Yet, the current project list would leave this region well short of its proportional take. Even if we include some federal funding tabbed for projects in the northern suburbs, they’d get shortchanged by $150 million. And you may as well ignore another $132 million for studying future transit along 400 and 85, since those two projects would be hundreds of millions of dollars and a decade or more away from existence.

Worse, about one in four dollars devoted to the area would go to a single rail project that would barely cross into Cobb.

Still, we are only now reaching the coup de grace. That would be Ellis’ wish to suck yet another $33 million out of the 400 corridor.

Doing so would leave an area that provides almost half the population and revenues for the T-SPLOST — and way more than half of the region’s traffic congestion — with barely one-third of the proceeds.    (emphasis mine)

Transportation is one of the biggest issues facing the city of Alpharetta and we do need a regional solution. But it becomes more apparent every day that the T-SPLOST is not that solution. Before we waste any more time I hope our state legislators will realize that we need a real solution and stop wasting precious time on a proposal that is destined for failure.

I encourage you to read the whole column here.