Category Archives: Alpharetta

Alpharetta to unveil urbanization plan March 22

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Over the last few years the City of Alpharetta has methodically changed the zoning on properties to introduce more than a thousand high density residential units into our school systems and neighborhoods. Most of those projects did not conform to the city’s comprehensive land use plan but the Community Development Department supported them anyway and the Mayor and City Council approved.

In two weeks the city will unveil their new blueprint for the future of Alpharetta. While the new map hasn’t been unveiled it is safe to assume that based on recent history the Community Development Department will use this opportunity to further their goal of putting tens of thousands more people into high density mixed use developments. And even though mixed use projects were approved without being on the land use plan before Alpharetta residents can rest assured that once more mixed use is called for in the plan there will be no stopping them.

If you care about the city of Alpharetta you need to mark your calendars now so you can attend the unveiling of what the city has in store for us on March 22, 2011. Below is the press release from the city of Alpharetta’s website.

Citywide Open House

The City of Alpharetta is hosting an open house to receive comments on the vision for Alpharetta’s future! Please join us to review changes proposed to the City’s Comprehensive Plan 2030. Maps and documents will be available for review along with refreshments.

When: Tuesday, March. 22, 2011 – 4:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Where: City Hall 2 South Main Street Alpharetta, Georgia 30009

Take care of us boomers but don’t forget that families are the future

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The Atlanta Journal featured this story about a young family that recently moved to Alpharetta. The story tells of a man and woman named Pat and Sarah Tramonte. They were married three years ago and have an 11 month old daughter. They also just bought a house in Alpharetta. Like many young couples Pat and Sarah had been living in an apartment in Dunwoody. They both grew up in Dunwoody but he and his wife looked for a home in the Roswell and Alpharetta area because Pat works here.

The Tramonte’s story is typical of most people moving to Alpharetta. In fact the Tramonte story is a perfect example of what made Alpharetta one of the greatest places to live in the state. Young people chose Alpharetta as a place to raise their family and then never wanted to leave.

As Pat says in the article, ““We bought with the intention of staying here for quite some time so we figured that we can choose to do the kitchen and the bathroom upgrades ourselves, and let’s put our money now toward more of a house.” Couples like the Tramontes move to Alpharetta and become invested in the community. They raise their children here, volunteer for the PTA and
coach little league baseball or softball. That is what made Alpharetta great and that is what will determine its future.

This week the Alpharetta City Council began looking at ways to accommodate couples like Pat and Sarah much later in their lives. The city plans to review the various options for providing more housing for the elderly. That is a good thing. It is important that the people who moved here to raise families are able to stay as long as they want.

It is also important that the city makes sure it doesn’t do any more harm to the delicate balance of housing that made Alpharetta a special place to live in the first place. There is no doubt that the next couple of decades will be a demographic challenge for our city and our nation. There will be dramatic changes as the baby boom generation reaches retirement and our communities will have to accommodate that shift. But as a member of the baby boom generation I am keenly aware that (much to our chagrin) we will not live forever.

It is important for Alpharetta to accomodate our aging population and I hope that we do everything we can as long as it doesn’t jeopardize the future. But let’s not lose sight of the future. Within the next ten years or so my generation will begin a steady decline in numbers and our children will be left to face the consequences of what we leave behind. I hope that legacy won’t include thousands of dense housing units that will decimate the city’s quality of life and drive away the young families that have served to make Alpharetta great.

People often call the baby boom generation the “me” generation because we tend to make everything about us. But make no mistake. The future of Alpharetta isn’t about me or my generation. The future is about our children and the young families like the Tramontes. They will determine whether Alpharetta remains a special place to live and we better make sure that whatever we do now doesn’t make the city less attractive to them in the future.

I know that the Atlanta Regional Commission is spending millions of dollars to promote affordable senior housing in cities like Alpharetta but I also realize that tailoring a city’s future to the needs of a generation that won’t be here in 30 years isn’t really a good long term strategy. I hope my fellow baby boomers will keep that in mind as we lay the groundwork for the next few decades.

And by the way… if you happen to run into Pat and Sarah Tramonte please tell them I said, “Welcome to Alpharetta!”

Alpharetta High School Redistricting Continues Next Week

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Next week on Wednesday, March 16th, the Fulton County School System will host the second of three public meetings to determine attendance zones which will be used when the new high school in the city of Milton opens. The meeting will be held at Alpharetta High School on Webb Bridge Road from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

The new districts will have a major impact on two of the best public high schools in the state, Alpharetta High School and Milton High School, in addition to the new school on Bethany Bend Road. And since the great schools of Alpharetta continue to be the foundation of our property values this process will affect your home’s worth whether you have children in the schools or not.

There are only two more meetings planned so if you can’t make it next week make sure to mark your calendar for the final meeting on April 13, 2011. You can keep abreast of the latest developments at the Fulton County School website here: http://bit.ly/estsjn

GA 400: Atlanta’s Information Highway

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Yesterday I wrote about the distribution of Atlanta’s high wage workers and low wage workers as reported by the Atlanta Regional Commission. Not surprisingly the maps showed that the overwhelming majority of high wage earners in the metropolitan area live in the wedge formed between I75 and I85 on the North side of Atlanta.

That was interesting but not surprising. What I found more interesting and definitely more surprising was that is a big difference in the types of high wage earners that reside inside the perimeter (ITP) and those that live outside the perimeter (OTP). And counterintuitively I found that the higher earning professionals were actually more concentrated OTP.

As you can see on the map below the vast majority of people described as professional, scientific and technical workers live ITP in Buckhead or Dunwoody. According to the report this would include lawyers, accountants, architects and presumably doctors since the area includes Pill Hill where many of Atlanta’s hospitals are concentrated. Just like the location of high earners in general I found that interesting but not surprising.

What I found surprising was that the overwhelming majority of so-called “information” workers actually live outside the perimeter in North Fulton and South Forsyth county. The information workers are described as internet, telecommunications and data processing professoinals and according to the chart they average almost 20% higher monthly salaries ($6900 mo./ $5800 mo.) than the more traditional professionals who choose to live inside the perimeter.

It’s widely known that Alpharetta has many computer, telecommunications and data companies located here but I was really surprised to see that so few of these professionals choose to live downtown. Maybe they got tired of paying the tolls?

Perhaps we should change GA 400’s nickname from the Hospitality Highway to the Information Highway. Who came up with that silly Hospitality Highway in the first place?

(click to enlarge)

Where High-Income and Low-Income Workers Live in Atlanta

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In 2009 the Atlanta Regional Commission published an interesting report called Where High Income and Low-Income Workers Live in Atlanta. The study’s basic conclusion was that,” Low-income workers, for example, tend to live south of I-20, while high-income workers live north of I-20 along the GA 400 corridor”. Of course anyone casually familiar with Atlanta could have told you that but the maps used to illustrate the conclusion are worth seeing. (You can click on the images to enlarge)

The difference is stark. And if you notice how many of the high wage earners live in the proposed Milton County you can see why the rest of Fulton County and the City of Atlanta are desperate to make sure it never happens.

Alpharetta continues urbanization to attract MARTA

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Tonight the Alpharetta City Council voted to approve another high density mixed use project with nearly 500 condos. The vote was unanimous and it was embarrassing to watch how council members fawned over the developers. The council toothlessly imposed ownership restrictions but MetLife balked at an amendment that would prevent the property from converting to 500 apartments within five years so council decided to take their word for it.

Below are my comments to the council.

Good evening. My name is Jimmy Gilvin and I live in Alpharetta. I’ve come to speak against the Peridot project being proposed by MetLife.

Tonight this council will decide whether to continue urbanizing the city of Alpharetta by adding dense housing. The MetLife parcel is currently zoned for more than a million feet of office space which would provide more than 3300 badly needed jobs for the people of Alpharetta. The new proposal replaces 1800 of those jobs with 500 condominiums.

Why would this council trade $123,000,000 in annual salaries for 500 condos? This letter from MARTA’s Office of Transit Planning explains,

“MARTA is also working with the City of Alpharetta to initiate an LCI for the North Point Mall area as part of a north line rail extension… the city of Alpharetta had inquired from MARTA on the feasibility of having the proposed rail station at a location across SR 400 from the mall in the vicinity of the development site. MARTA has not yet made a firm decision on the station location but believes this development will add density in the area, making for better transit supportive environment.”

So for more than 5 years Alpharetta City officials have been quietly but methodically urbanizing this city in the hope of attracting MARTA. Was it happening when current City Councilman Chris Owens was working for the developer of Prospect Park as the civil engineer of the project? I don’t know. But it was happening when the city approved a 12 story condo tower in the Alpharetta High School district and it will continue tonight if you approve this MetLife proposal.

This year Alpharetta voters like me will elect a new mayor and several of you will be up for reelection. With your votes tonight you will help make those choices clear. We can either choose leaders that continue to urbanize our city in the hope of attracting MARTA or we will elect people that will protect what already makes Alpharetta a great place to live.

Alpharetta is a special place. We enjoy a fantastic quality of life with great public schools and low crime rates. As a result we are one of the finest places to live in all of Georgia.

I stand here asking you not to throw that all away. Despite what consultants, developers and land use attorneys may tell you the majority of people that live here don’t want Alpharetta urbanized to attract MARTA. Many voters don’t want MARTA here at all. All of you live here and in your hearts you know that is true. I am asking you to vote accordingly. Please vote no on this project.

The council members that voted for the project were: Douglas Derito, Jim Paine, Cheryl Oakes, Chris Owens, Mike Kennedy and DC Aiken in addition to Alpharetta mayor Arthur Letchas.

AJC explores the urbanization of Alpharetta

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The Atlanta Journal Constitution has an article which explores the ongoing push by City Council to urbanize Alpharetta. You can read the whole thing here.

The piece includes comments from yours truly and another like minded resident. MetLife refused to comment. I guess they feel no need to defend the loss of 1800 jobs in exchange for 500 condos since it was the city’s idea in the first place.

A few snippets:

“The City of Alpharetta continues to add density, add condominiums and it’s going to have a negative impact on the future,” said resident Jimmy Gilvin, who plans to attend Monday night’s meeting. “We have a great quality of life, we have great public schools and for some reason that seems to be under attack right now.”

“Alpharetta is probably the only city in the country where a developer walks into the Community Development Department requesting a simple stream variance, and he leaves with the promise to push through zoning for a high density, mixed-use project,” resident Mark McKean said.

In response to the comments by Alpharetta residents the director of Alpharetta’s Community Development Department, Diana Wheeler, had this to say:

Wheeler denies the charge, and said there has been no attempt to alter the zoning code to fit MetLife’s plan. “If the plan met the code, it wouldn’t require a public hearing,” she said.

Well the city is holding a public hearing. So is Ms. Wheeler saying that the MetLife development doesn’t meet the code? Ms. Wheeler’s comments make no sense to me but then again neither does the Unified Development Code she devised in an attempt to permit developments that most city residents abhor.

There is still time to call the city and notify them of your position before the vote tonight. The phone number is 678-297-6000.

Why would Alpharetta trade 1800 jobs for 500 condos? MARTA

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Below is a letter submitted by MetLife to justify the Peridot project proposed for Alpharetta. The new project would remove more than 1800 potential jobs from the site in return for building 500 condominiums. Why would the Alpharetta City Council do that? I will let Mr. Ikwut-Ukwa of MARTA’s planning office explain:

“MARTA is also working with the City of Alpharetta to initiate an LCI for the North Point Mall area as part of a proposed north line rail extension. In the past the City of Alpharetta had also inquired from MARTA on the feasibility of having the proposed rail station at a location across SR 400 from the Mall in the vicinity of the development site. MARTA has not yet made a firm decision on the station location but believes this development will add to the density in the area, making for a better transit supportive environment.

For at least five years the City of Alpharetta has been working with MARTA to increase the density of our city so they can justify bringing trains here. Funny, I don’t remember Alpharetta voters being asked about that. It must have happened at a charade charrette.

IF an Alpharetta mayoral or city council candidate comes knocking on your door this summer to ask for your vote don’t forget to tell them how you feel about the urbanization of Alpharetta to lure MARTA. Obviously they think it is a good idea. They just don’t want you to know.

MARTA, is it smarta for Alpharetta?

Look out Milton… it’s time to hide ya kids, hide ya wife

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Monday the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Livable Centers Initiative will be used wipe out 1800 potential jobs in Alpharetta and  make room for 500 more condos. Now they will bring that same astute land use planning to the quiet City of Milton. You can read the whole thing on the Alpharetta Patch here but the key passage is:

The ARC reports that since the first LCI grants were awarded in 2000, more than 84,000 residential units, 20 million square feet of commercial space and 35 million square feet of office space are either planned, under construction or complete in these areas. Region-wide, 67 percent of all office space built since 2000 has been built within LCI areas. And, LCI areas have attracted 8.5 percent of all new residential units and 21 percent of all new commercial development built in the region.

No wonder Miltonites didn’t want to expand sewer service. The sharks are circling. Noted analyst Antoine Dobson speaks on the subject:

Seriously though, if you care about what happens to the City of Milton you had better pay close attention to the LCI process. You wouldn’t believe the garbage that comes out of it if residents don’t get involved.

Would you trade $123,000,000 worth of jobs for 546 condos?

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Well that’s what the Alpharetta City Council is poised to do on Monday, February 28. That is when the city will vote on the high density mixed use Peridot project that MetLife has requested.

I’d prefer the city show they can make one of the already approved mixed use projects work before approving any more but I have listened to the justifications for this project. I listened to City Council Members say the project would reduce traffic, bring jobs and pay for road improvements. It just seemed too good to be true. And as my Dad used to say,”if something sounds too good to be true,son, it probably is.”

So I decided to check the numbers for myself. Sure enough it was too good to be true. While City Council Members tout the benefits of the MetLife project they have failed to mention that the benefits would come at an enormous price. Based on the numbers provided by the developer the Alpharetta City Council will essentially vote whether or not we will exchange 1894 jobs worth $123,000,000 a year for 546 condos in a completely saturated market.

Are you skeptical? You should be. I couldn’t believe it myself. But facts are facts and you can check it out for yourself.

First you just need to look at the Alpharetta Community Development Department’s comparison of the current zoning for the MetLife parcel to the new zoning proposed for the Peridot project. You can find that analysis on page 10 here: http://bit.ly/fBri9t Notice that the major change proposed is a reduction of office space by 568,320 square feet and the addition of 546 condominiums covering 655,200 square feet.

Then take a look at the job projections that MetLife submitted for analysis by the Atlanta Regional Commission on page 17 and 18 here:http://bit.ly/ibZrVX  The developer’s analysis shows that office space is expected to add “1 employee per 300 SF”. That means a reduction of 568,320 square feet of office space would eliminate 1894 potential jobs from the parcel. So if you plug the salary numbers MetLife used on page 18 for the various occupations you will see that the lost salaries from that zoning change would be more than $123,000,000 a year!

Maybe Alpharetta’s Community Development Department doesn’t mind trading 1894 badly needed jobs for 546 condos in an already saturated market but I know a few Alpharetta residents that beg to disagree. I’m just not so sure any of them are on City Council.