February 07, 2008
Now that the North Fulton Community Improvement District (CID) has spent $2 million buying land for Westside Parkway's southern section, its board of directors needs to create a blueprint for its future.
Five consulting firms, from transportation engineers to public relations companies, will assess every project that remains to be completed in its area, to develop Blueprint North Fulton, said the CID's vice president, Ann Hanlon.
"When the CID was created, it had one goal, one project in mind, which was Westside Parkway," she said.
Most CIDs start with a master plan. They hire a transportation engineering firm to study all of the area's projects to create the master plan. Then they go out and do the projects they pick.
"This CID didn't start out that way. They decided Westside Parkway was their priority, and they wanted to do that first," Hanlon said.
The CID's part is done, now Georgia Department of Transportation just needs to build the road, she said.
Hanlon and Brandon Beach, president of the North Fulton CID, encouraged its board of directors to create a master plan after making a complete inventory of the area.
"We generate about $2 million a year. We need a plan on where we should spend our money," Hanlon said.
Proposals from consultants started coming in during early summer, with the board picking its team in late summer.
"So we've got six consulting firms on board and they are working on the master plan effort which we have now branded as Blueprint North Fulton," Hanlon said.
The idea behind the master plan is to deal with current issues, prepare for future issues and give the Georgia 400 corridor in North Fulton a signature "look and feel," according to Tom LaDow, chairman of the North Fulton Community Improvement District.
"The North Fulton CID is truly the gateway to the thriving cities of Alpharetta, Milton and Roswell, which are all extremely successful and growing rapidly," LaDow said. "Our goal with Blueprint North Fulton is to create a plan for development in the District, creating a gateway to each of these cities."
Other CIDs in metro Atlanta have named their master plans similarly, with Blueprint Downtown and Blueprint Cumberland among them. North Fulton CID picked its name because it is familiar in the region.
Hanlon said Blueprint North Fulton should be completed by late Spring 2008.
"We are doing inventories of what the current, existing conditions are in the district, whether land use, zoning, all the existing traffic conditions. And we are working with all the cities, Roswell, Alpharetta and Milton," she said.
The CID staff and board work with staff from the cities, including James Drinkard, director of Economic Development for Alpharetta, and his Roswell counterpart, Jennifer Fine.
It's an opportunity for the CID and the cities to consolidate efforts. All cities have their own transportation and development plans, and the members of the CID, which is comprised entirely of commercial property owners that make up the district, has its goals.
Blueprint North Fulton will help the CID identify where it wants to spend its money.
"We have the money to do these projects that the cities want to do, their projects, but don't have money," Hanlon said. "When this is all finished in late spring, we'll have a laundry list of projects, and the board can choose among those projects what the priorities are."
Two projects brought to the North Fulton CID's attention are the exit ramp northbound on Ga. 400 at Windward Parkway and a landscape treatment to beautify the Haynes Bridge Road/Ga. 400 interchange.
Hanlon said the Georgia Department of Transportation narrowed the exit ramp to one lane when it installed a sound barrier, as the state agency anticipated a development next to the highway.
Other people want the Haynes Bridge Road interchange to get the same type of treatment the North Fulton CID gave the Mansell Road/Ga. 400 interchange.
"Those are things that probably will show up in the plan," Hanlon said.
A sidewalk inventory in the district also has been requested. The CID might come in and fill in gaps between sidewalks.
"There are a lot of sidewalks in the area," she said.
The North Fulton CID has become very popular, with many requests for funding. Now its board wants to exercise more control over its spending, with Blueprint North Fulton giving a systemized approach to project selection.
- www.northfulton.com
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