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Quality Development: Why Not in Snellville?
By Jerry | July 25, 2007
You may have heard last week that Money Magazine ranked Suwanee as the #10 place to live in the nation for cities from 10,000-50,000 citizens. Snellville also falls in that population category, but what has put Suwanee “over the top”? Well this morning as I was enjoying my usual bowl of cereal, I stumbled across an article in the Gwinnett Section of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about a Retail/Condo development being proposed for downtown Lilburn.
It turns out that the developer for the Lilburn project has also successfully built this type of development in Duluth and Suwanee. According the article by Allen Dodd,
The development will feature three main buildings – Merchants Row at Lilburn Town Center,
Park View and Gallery Lofts. Merchants Row will contain 26,500 square feet of retail space, and Gallery Lofts will have 6,000 square feet of space for shops. The entire development will have 50 to 70 lofts and condos. The units will cost in the $250,000 range and more.
“We hope to have buildings coming out of the ground in the next eight to nine months,” said Dan Wexel, managing member of Wexelberry at Old Town.
“Lilburn Town Center will create a beautiful, vibrant gathering place for the community to shop, eat, walk and mingle.”
Why can’t we have something like this in Snellville? Well 
actually, we have plans for something like this. Developer Doug Spohn, known for his downtown developments in Suwanee, has plans on the table for Snellville. Most of you know these plans as Wisteria Square at the intersection of Clower Street and Wisteria Road in the heart of Snellville. The project was to feature white-table-cloth restaurants, shops, a farmers market, and condos all surrounding a reflection pond with a gathering area for concerts and recitals.
But in the years since the City Council approved this project, the land has been cleared, curb as been poured, but the site remains dormant, all this while Spohn projects in other Gwinnett cities come out of the ground.
Recently, I spoke with Spohn about his Snellville project. A number of factors have contributed to the lack of construction. The main factor is competition from the Avenues at Webb Gin House. The Avenues lie outside the city limits, therefore the restaurants that locate there are not constrained by the alcohol ordinances inside the Snellville city limits. The Wisteria Square project is at a distinct disadvantage because any restaurant that locates there will only be able to compete with the Avenues six out of seven days a week. If this is not the case, then why has Wisteria Square not been built?
But what is the solution for Snellville? While we discuss it, cities like Lilburn are in the middle of exciting and new projects, developers in Duluth and Suwanee are creating gathering places for their citizens. If Snellville doesn’t join the race, we may be left in the dust as places like the Avenues become the new centers for development in the county.
As mayor, I have fought long and hard to bring quality development to Snellville, but I can’t do it alone. I need help from you the citizen, as well as the city council. My goal for Snellville is to be better than Suwanee in the next four years, but we have to start now, we need to reevaluate the things that are hindering quality progress in Snellville.
What are your suggestions for Snellville? How do we “revitalize” our downtown? As always, your comments and concerns are warmly appreciated.
Topics: Newspaper Articles, Thoughts |
July 31st, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Mr. Mayor,
As a resident of Walton county near but not in Loganville, I am familiar with the concept of “LBTD” (Liquor by the drink/glass). It’s my understanding that this is an issue that may be considered an election issue for the next City Council vote.
Unfortunately for great cities like Snellville or Loganville, issues concerning alcohol seem to rear their heads during development discussions. It sometimes seems as if the rationale behind these decisions is, “If people can’t buy alcohol on Sundays, or can’t drink it ‘by the glass,’ we’ll more likely be safer for it.”
But is that really true? Do these “dry” periods really have a positive, statistically-based impact on the city enough to warrant no such further commercial/residential development in the city limits? Or, are these kinds of ordinances merely a way for people to take a good-intentioned stand, either for their own self-righteousness and/or another way to keep development from occurring?
It is true that for Snellville to compete, it must be flexible. Sometimes that means growth. In Loganville, commercialization seems to occur east-west (along US 78) with residential development north-south. However, as Loganville grows, so, too, must the City’s plans.
Great job on the blog,
-Phil
August 7th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Phil,
The restrictions on Alcohol are based on a long standing southern-originating fear that allowing people to drink on Sundays will ruin any sort of family atmosphere in the city.
I hope the city council will realize by watching areas like the Avenues develop that good quality development can occur with Alcohol sales without destroying the community.
In reality, they use this as a tool for elections. If they can rile up the “Southern Christian” base in Snellville, they can almost assure themselves of reelection.
It’s too bad they sacrifice our city in the process.
-Matt
August 17th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Matt,
Thanks for doing a much better job of saying it “exactly as it is.”
Naturally, the danger of this kind of “electioneering,” going forward, could be an attempt by the city/state to push themselves further into our lives.
All the best,
-Phil