From the Mayor's Desk: Highlights from State of the City

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Note: The following is Peachtree Corners Mayor Mike Mason’s “From the Mayor’s Desk” column in the monthly Inside Peachtree Corners newsletter.

On July 24, I presented the state-of-the-city address which gave me the opportunity to talk about our current accomplishments in the context of our future vision for the city.

For those of you who were not able to attend the event, I’ll recap some of the highlights.

Peachtree Corners has bounded out of the gates since incorporating in July 2012.

Previous “From the Mayor’s Desk” posts

• From the Mayor’s Desk: Three Years and Counting ...
• From the Mayor’s Desk: Business Incubator a Boom for Economic Development
• From the Mayor’s Desk: Looking Good, Peachtree Corners
• From the Mayor’s Desk: 3 Questions with Mike Mason
• From the Mayor’s Desk: Revitalizing Holcomb Bridge Corridor

Building permits have doubled from 2013 (637 permits) to 2014 (1,218 permits) and 2015 is on track to succeed last year’s number.

The unemployment rate is second lowest in all of Georgia (for cities with populations of 24,000 or more), and office and retail vacancy rates are declining.

The office vacancy rate was 19.2 percent in the first quarter of 2014, compared to 16.3 percent for the same period in 2015. And the vacancy rate for retail was 16.3 percent in the first quarter of 2014 compared to 13.6 percent for the first quarter of 2015.

And the city is on track to create a business incubator which will further enhance the city’s economic development.

After an impressive number who turned out for the kick-off event in May and following a Georgia Tech readiness study, Peachtree Corners is poised to launch an incubator to support entrepreneurs and their endeavors. To give you some idea on how ready this community is for an incubator, we teamed up with Georgia Tech’s incubator folks for the kick off, they were expecting about 50 and we had well over 200 attend!

Let me take a moment to highlight some of accomplishments over the past year:

• The city held its first election
• Supported a crime free multi-family housing initiative
• Adopted a zero millage rate again this year
• Approved gateway monument signs
• Adopted Livable Centers Initiative plan identifying the city’s central business district
• Approved Town Center development
• Approved a resolution to accept Georgia Tech’s community readiness assessment study
• Established a veteran’s memorial committee
• Approved Winters Chapel corridor improvement plan
• Added public works to manage SPLOST construction projects
• Supported the county in its purchase of Simpsonwood property by contributing $2 million

And looking to the future the city plans include:

• Partner with Georgia Tech’s ATDC to provide program management for the city’s business incubator
• Strive to bring higher education to complement the city’s high schools
• Add housing options for millennials and empty nesters
• Study ways to improve Holcomb Bridge Road corridor to revive and redevelop the area
• Improve traffic and transportation throughout the city
• And lastly, we should constantly strive to create a city that’s unique, interesting and welcoming.

The Town Center will do a lot for that but let’s visualize crossing from The Forum to the Town Center on a unique, iconic pedestrian bridge over S.R. 141 and seeing it open onto walking trails along a creek, botanical gardens and an amphitheater, or walking along trails that interconnect with the other trails that crisscross the city.

It’s not that hard to imagine, nor, at all unattainable, especially if we share the same vision.