Tag Archives: Alpharetta City Council

Alpharetta Condo Developer Penn Hodge appointed to Development Authority

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Penn Hodge is the developer that was instrumental in bringing the Verizon Amphitheater to Alpharetta and coincidentally applied for a 15 story condominium on Windward Parkway a few months later. The condo tower will be part of the Windward Mill high density mixed use project that has been stalled for years. Once the Alpharetta City Council approved his project Mr. Hodge touted its density as unthinkable by area standards.

Fulton County Commissioner Liz Hausmann has now appointed the strip mall impressario from Johns Creek to the Development Authority of Fulton County. Ms. Hausmann is quoted in the Alpharetta Revue here as saying:

“Penn Hodge’s impressive economic development background and his service as a member of the Economic Development Board for the State of Georgia will bring tremendous value to all of Fulton County,”

The urbanization of North Fulton County continues. Full speed ahead!

Alpharetta Plays Where’s Waldo With Residents

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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.

Welcome to Alpharetta… the Devil’s Density

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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:
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The EPA identifies Satan's lair.

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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:
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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?

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

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?

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.

Kudos to the City of Alpharetta for reducing fees as an incentive for new businesses!

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I am quick to criticize government when they get it wrong so let me be one of the first to congratulate the City of Alpharetta for getting this one right. I dream of the day when the kudos outweigh the criticisms.

Read the whole thing by Rachel Kellogg in the Alpharetta Neighbor.