The City of Alpharetta Knows Best
Reply
Category Archives: Alpharetta
If you only read one blog post today
Without representation
The current composition of Alpharetta City Council does not reflect the values of the people that actually live here.
A few weeks ago the current Mayor of Alpharetta, Arthur Letchas, and all six City Council members unanimously approved another high density mixed use project while entire shopping centers sit vacant and a decade’s worth of condomiums sit idle. While there are people in Alpharetta that support this urbanization only a charlatan would believe all 50,000+ residents are unanimous in that support so it is indisputable that the Alpharetta City Council does not reflect the values of the people that live here.
The feedback I receive from this blog and my other community involvement runs about 4-1 against the city’s densification and urbanization plans. That number is probably high but even if the actual number were half of that it would mean Alpharetta’s voters overwhelmingly oppose what their elected officials are doing. That kind of disconnect cannot continue forever.
City Council members cannot run on a platform of “no more development until empty spaces are filled” and then vote for high density mixed use projects forever. City Council members cannot serve as the developer’s engineer for the largest failed project in the city’s history and still get elected by voters who were kept in the dark forever. City Council members cannot approve densely packed housing projects in an effort to attract MARTA without bothering to tell constituents forever.
Eventually the voters will notice. And every day more voters in Alpharetta are starting to notice. Below is a screenshot of a video created by an Alpharetta resident to raise awareness of the City’s disconnect from voters. I wish I had posted it before Tuesday’s land use plan meeting but it is still powerful and you can watch the whole thing at this link.
Voters that are adequately represented by their elected officials don’t feel compelled to create videos like that to make sure their neighbors know what is going on. Voters that are adequately represented don’t spend dozens of hours each week writing blogs, emails and newsletters to make sure their neighbors see what is happening around them while they’re busy working to support families or volunteering in schools. Even more importantly, voters that are adequately represented don’t take time out of their busy day to write notes of appreciation to the neighbors that do keep them informed.
Predicting the future is a fool’s game but there are two things I know for certain about Alpharetta politics:
1) The current composition of Alpharetta City Council does not reflect the values of the people that actually live here.
2) That kind of disconnect cannot continue forever.
Where are the 15 story condos?
Yesterday I mentioned that the City of Alpharetta didn’t bother promoting the open house for the new Comprehensive Land Use Plan on their website and compared it to making residents play a game of Where’s Waldo to find vital information. Now it looks like the city has decided to take that game to a whole new level.
A few years ago the city rezoned a piece of property at the corner of NorthPoint Parkway and Windward Parkway to mixed use. The project was named Windward Mill and still sits undeveloped. At the time the property was zoned for office space so the change allowed the developer to add about 500 condos to the site. Many of the condos were to be built in 5 story buildings but the developer couldn’t cram them all in without putting 180 of them in a single 15 story building.
So imagine my surprise when I saw the pictures Alpharetta is now using to portray the “Desired Character Images” of the Windward activity area:
Notice Anything Missing?
Where’s the 15 story condo tower? It’s possible that the 5 story buildings could be hidden by using a street level view but a 15 story building? Wouldn’t 15 stories still be visible? And wouldn’t a 15 story building be the kind of detail that residents need to know about?
But what do I know? I’m just some crazy blogger that actually lives in Alpharetta as opposed to an erudite urban planner that doesn’t.
The city wants to expand the use of high density mixed use all over town so this is important. The proposed comprehensive plan expands mixed use in Windward, calls for condos or apartments all over the Northpoint area and it surrounds a good portion of Wills Park with the same stuff. That is a complete change in the character of our city and residents deserve to know that the pictures being used to sell it are accurate representations.
It’s sad that Alpharetta’s Community Development Department is allowed to mislead residents and even sadder that they use our own tax dollars to do it. I look forward to asking this year’s mayoral and city council candidates why they allow this to continue.
Alpharetta Plays Where’s Waldo With Residents
Tonight the City of Alpharetta will unveil a comprehensive plan that shows their vision of the future for our community. The new comprehensive plan will outline how many more high density mixed use developments the city plans to add and which schools will be affected. The comprehensive plan will also determine where development will occur and thus dictate whether Kimball Bridge Road, Rucker Road and Webb Bridge Road will need to be made four lane traffic corridors to accomodate the additional volume of cars. In fact the City’s initiative called Comprehensive Plan 2030 will impact the property values of every homeowner in the city and it will affect every school in Roswell, Johns Creek, Milton and Alpharetta so you might say it’s kind of a big deal.
So why don’t the residents of Alpharetta know about it? Below is a snapshot of the city’s website that I took this morning and you can click on the picture to enlarge it:
Notice anything missing?
Now I know I’m just some crazy blogger but doesn’t it seem like a meeting that will impact every family in the city might rate a visible mention on their website? You can see that just yesterday the City added notices about Mortgage Payment Assistance, City Pool Passes and Pedestrian Safety but not a single indication that the future of our city will be unveiled tonight. There’s even an entire section about Alpharetta being a Green Community and how we are “Leading the way to Sustainability” whatever that means. But not one single notice on the front page of the city’s website that a meeting crucial to the future of Alpharetta is being held today.
It is inexcusable that the city didn’t even bother to let people know about today’s unveiling but as someone who follows these events closely it isn’t surprising at all. Do I think it is some kind of conspiracy? No. I think it is either incompetence on the part of our Community Development Department or just another example of how little consideration they give to resident input. Maybe both.
But regardless of the reason it is sad that a town our size does such a poor job of listening to the people that live, vote and raise families here. For those of you that wish to attend, the Comprehensive Plan unveiling will be held at Alpharetta City Hall from 4:00 until 8:00 today (March 22).
Oh, and if you had known to go to the city’s website and press the tiny blue link labeled Comprehensive Plan 2030 you could have found Waldo there.
Alpharetta City Council’s Wish List for a Tax Increase
Tonight the Alpharetta City Council is slated to vote on the list of projects to include on the transportation tax referendum next year. Proponents hope that a list of possible projects will entice voters into voting for higher taxes on themselves. You can see the list of projects on the city website here.
I also suggest you read this article about the transportation tax issue in today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution. The AJC article doesn’t do a very good job of summarizing the list being presented to Alpharetta City Council tonight but it does give a valuable overview of the process. Below are a few random thoughts on the transportation tax proposal:
1. I don’t trust the state of Georgia to live up to their end of the bargain. After the DOT and State Roadway and Toll Authority arbitrarily extended the GA 400 tolls I came up with a phrase to express my thoughts on the matter: “Once you vote to give the government your money they will do with it what they damn well please.”
2. Supporters of the tax increase include most of Georgia’s business and political establishment who try to portray the issue as just another penny for a great cause. It is important that taxpayers realize all those pennies add up to 8 Billion Dollars. That works out to about $3,300 the average family of four in Georgia will no longer have to buy gas, food or anything else they need.
3. Supporters of the plan point out that the tax is only authorized for ten years. Let’s be realistic, there isn’t a chance in hell that the tax will ever go away. If you doubt me look at what Cobb County did to push through the SPLOST tax extension.
4. The business and political establishment in metro Atlanta are determined to expand inefficient and expensive train service. One way they hope to achieve this goal is by rebranding MARTA as a shiny new regional transportation authority run by GRTA. Somehow they think that will make it more palatable to suburban taxpayers. This recent front page article in the Alpharetta Revue illustrates what I mean. While the article uses the transit authority in Chicago as an example it failed to also mention that census numbers show people are fleeing the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois is on the verge of bankruptcy and the Chicago Regional Transit Authority will cost taxpayers about 1.4 Billion Dollars this year.
5. Land development companies and speculators will reap billions of dollars in profits while shouldering none of the burden for the transportation improvements which increase their property values. That is why local Chambers of Commerce and Community Improvement Districts will invest millions of dollars to promote the new tax on consumers.
6. There is still no relief in the proposal for taxpayers in Fulton and Dekalb Counties who already pay a one cent transportation tax for MARTA that costs us about $350,000,000 a year. Last year North Fulton mayors threatened to withhold support for the proposed tax increase if it continued to unfairly punish their constituents but the resulting political backlash left them noticeably silent since then.
There is no doubt that the state of Georgia has neglected our road infrastructure as tax revenues boomed over the past few decades. I just think it is a horrible idea to make up for that mistake by raising taxes now that people are struggling with high unemployment, rampant inflation and declining property values. The state’s political and business community disagree.
It will be interesting to see what the people of Georgia decide when the issue reaches the ballot box.
Welcome to Alpharetta… the Devil’s Density
.
.
The absurdity of a federal government that can’t balance it’s checkbook lecturing small town America about sustainability never ceases to amaze me. The latest example I would like to point out is the Environmental Protection Agency’s diatribe against suburban life titled “Essential Smart Growth Fixes for Urban and Suburban Zoning Codes”. You can find the whole report here and it is chock full of brilliant insight like this:
(click image to enlarge)
..
.
The EPA identifies Satan's lair.
.
..
If you wonder why Alpharetta city council does ridiculous stuff like increasing traffic on a corner by 1400% to “reduce traffic” just read through some of the garbage that our federal tax dollars are buying. I don’t know what qualifies a federal government which is currently running unsustainable trillion dollar deficits to lecture Alpharetta about efficiency but I do know what happened when Falls Church, VA made the mistake of listening to the them:
.
.
.
.
.
.
Sound familiar? But to the credit of the EPA they do acknowledge what has made the Devil’s Density of Alpharetta such an attractive place to live. Even their diatribe against suburbia acknowledges:
“This low-density development pattern has been one of the fastest growing sectors of the housing market, fueled by a variety of factors, including people moving to rural communities for the quality of life”
So that bastion of efficiency known as the federal government spends billions of dollars telling municipalities to change the quality of life that made them fantastic places to live? Are you kidding me?
Next year I guess the federal government will spend billions promoting the Bill Clinton Abstinence program in public schools. Will the Alpharetta City Council fall for that one too?
Racial diversity in Alpharetta? Duh!
This article in the Atlanta Journal reports that census figures show black families are migrating from urban centers in the south to the suburbs in large numbers. To that shocking revelation my response is “Duh!”.
The example given in the article is that of the Taylor family which recently moved from Atlanta to the city of Alpharetta. The story describes the family’s decision to move like this:
Among the new black suburbanites are Ray Taylor, 34, and his wife, Marcia, 33. Four years ago, they moved from Atlanta to the northern suburb of Alpharetta, Ga., about 20 miles away, seeking better schools and a wider range of community activities. They now have two small children, ages 4 and 1.
Taylor, a political independent who voted for Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, said he also liked having more exposure to people of different racial and political backgrounds. Compared with Atlanta, Alpharetta has a broader mix of whites and Hispanics and tends to lean more Republican.
“We wanted to be close enough to access the city and have the best of both worlds,” he said.
The story about the Taylor family is pretty much the same as that of the Tramonte family I wrote about last week other than the race of the people involved. In fact the only thing truly surprising about the Taylor family’s story is that Associated Press considered their race to be newsworthy at all. Anyone that attends public schools in North Fulton or goes shopping at Northpoint Mall already knows that Alpharetta is as culturally diverse as most of Atlanta’s inner city neighborhoods but I guess that is still news to people that don’t live here.
Welcome to Alpharetta Mr. and Mrs. Taylor. Based on your criteria for selecting a home you have chosen wisely and rest assured that you are surrounded by people that share many of your values regardless of political affiliation or skin color. Alpharetta is a terrific place for your family and I hope your children spend many happy years calling this home.
Your Lyin’ Eyes
One of the great things about this blog is that readers send links and assorted stuff. Last night after my post on Ronnie Hammond and the Atlanta Rhythm Section I got a note about an Alpharetta band I had never heard of called the Beagles. The Beagles’s lead singer Glenn Fray apparently wrote a song about their hometown which is an ode similar to Doraville by ARS. You can read the lyrics below.
The Beagles’ “Your Lyin’ Eyes” seems pretty similar to “Lyin’ Eyes” by The Eagles but I haven’t found any audio or video yet so I’ll give the Beagles the benefit of the doubt for now. What do you think?
Your Lyin’ Eyes
Written By Glenn Fray
as performed by Alpharetta’s hometown band The Beagles
Developers just seem to find out early
How to open doors with political juice
A quiet town and they don’t have to worry
The local rag won’t dare expose the truth
(Refrain)
You can’t belieeeeeeve … your lyin’ eyes
And your faaaaaaaaacts…must be pushed aside
Thought by nowwwwwww… you’d be ostra-ciiiized
You just can’t believe your lyin’ eyes
Local folks, they used to trust the City
To do what’s right and look out for their kids
But when the projects bucks reached the hundred millions
The will power of the council hit the skids
(Refrain)
You can’t belieeeeeeve … your lyin’ eyes
And your faaaaaaaaacts… must be pushed aside
Thought by nowwwwwww… you’d be ostra-ciiiized
You just can’t believe your lyin’ eyes
Politicians say… the MARTA trains won’t come here
And condo towers won’t dot the sky for years
But in a decade all the schools will be in shambles
And the only thing sustained will be the tears
(Refrain)
You can’t belieeeeeeve … your lyin’ eyes
And your faaaaaaaaacts… must be pushed aside
Thought by nowwwwwww… you’d be ostra-ciiiized
You just can’t believe your lyin’ eyes
High density mixed use means high traffic… period
A local blog called New Urban Roswell serves as a platform for blogger Mike Hadden to tout the various urban planning concepts he supports. Mike is a knowledgeable guy and often makes some good points as he did in this post entitled “Traffic Misconceptions”. The article does clear up some common misconceptions but unfortunately it also perpetuates one about mixed use housing.
The truth is that high density mixed use means high traffic… period. But when it comes to the fans of high density mixed use developments they all seem to display an “Imperviousness to evidence” as characterized by Mona Charen in this article at National Review online.
Here is what Mike wrote:
High Density Development Creates Traffic – This one is legitimate under the assumption that you pack people into condos and create a
dense SINGLE USE environment. Single use environments are a sure fire way to create traffic.
I know that mixed use fanatics want that statement to be true but that doesn’t make it so. Look at the actual numbers.
According to the traffic analysis submitted for the MetLife mixed use development in Alpharetta they will build 532 units of high density housing on approximately 8 acres of land. That is a lot of units for 8 acres but each condominium does create fewer vehicular trips than a single family home and they even get a 2% trip reduction factor for being in a mixed use development.
Now let’s compare that to the horrible old sprawl that urban planners abhor but the people in Alpharetta love to call home. To be generous we will say that “sprawl” would create a density of 4 units per acre. That number is awfully high if you are going to put in some of those loathsome cul de sacs but we’ll give the mixed use fanatics the benefit of the doubt. That means that 32 single family homes could be built on the same 8 acres of land that MetLife will use to cram in 532 units. That is 500 more families on 8 acres of land.
So how do 500 additional families reduce traffic? They don’t and the dirty little secret is that any urban planner worth their salt knows it. High density mixed use is just a way for developers to make more money and urban planners to achieve their other goals of mass transit and affordable housing.
Let’s look at the traffic numbers. MetLife submitted a traffic analysis that shows the 532 condos were expected to create about 3,000 additional trips from 8 acres of land. Single family homes usually cause about twice as many trips as condos so we could have expected about 180 trips if the property had been developed as a typical Alpharetta neighborhood. That means the MetLife condos added 2,820 more car trips than single family homes would have. That’s a 1466% increase in traffic!
There is an old saying that goes something like this, “Don’t pee on my head and tell me it’s raining”. Well just to be safe the next time a fan of a high density mixed use development tells you that it will reduce traffic I suggest you have an umbrella handy.
GA Jim 