Executive-2018-Summer

G ateway85 is a community improvement district (CID) serving a 14-square-mile area spanning the I-85 corridor in southwest Gwinnett County. Marsha Anderson Bomar has served as Executive Director for two years, but has been involved with CIDs since the early days; her engineering, planning and design company Street Smarts, Inc. worked with and originally housed the Gwinnett Place CID as it was developed. Bomar was impressed to see how quickly the CID’s actions had a highly positive impact on the community, so when the executive director position came available, she decided to throw her hat in the ring. Since officially joining the CID, Bomar has led the charge on several impactful projects and a total rebranding of the organization. She talked with The Executive about the rebranding as well as current and future projects planned. Q: What is Gateway85’s function? A: We are the local advocate for economic development to facilitate growth and redevelopment opportunities. Our primary mission is to improve commercial property values in the area, which we do in a variety of ways, including roadway beautification programs, a private security program to keep the area safe, infrastructure improvement projects and we’re even working on stormwater upgrades. All this facilitates mobility and development in our district. Q: Why did Gwinnett Village CID rebrand itself as Gateway85? A: There were two driving forces. One, the name painted a picture of a small rural area, which we are not. We are geographically the largest CID in Georgia. Two, the name caused brand confusion with Gwinnett Place CID. We are both organizations working to meet the needs of our communities, but our needs and opportunities are very different. In reality, we are the gateway from metro Atlanta into Gwinnett County and the gateway from Gwinnett to metro Atlanta, so the new name is a better description of the area we serve. Q: What is Gateway85 working on? A: One of the big projects we are working on right now is the shopping center property I mentioned before. We are working to obtain tax allocation district funds to help pay for structured parking on the property, which would allow the increase in density. We are also investigating a stormwater solution to serve all the properties in the stormwater basin where the center is located. Those buildings were all built in the late ’60s, early ’70s and none of the infrastructure is up to modern GATEWAY TO GWINNETT Gateway85’s Executive Director Discusses What’s New for the Southwest Gwinnett County Community Improvement District standards. The combined cost of demolishing and updating the infrastructure is more than any one property owner can afford, so we are working with various partners across Gwinnett County, the Atlanta Regional Commission and the private property owners to come up with solutions that benefit everyone. This summer we will also be initiating a freight study to see how we can make improvements to encourage future development opportunities. This will focus on how we can better serve advanced manufacturing, distribution and warehouse facilities. Q: How does Gateway85 interact with the community? A: We look for ways to positively catalyze transformation in the district. Right now we are working with a shopping center owner to transform the property into something more modern, urban and dense. We are helping to define any development barriers and identify public infrastructure investments that could help remove those barriers. Q: What exciting things are on the horizon for Gateway85? A: The biggest thing we are focused on right now is transit. We are ready, if not overdue, for significant transit connectivity to the regional area. Right now our focus is on rapid transit. We need the right solutions that can be built in the next five to 10 years. We are also working with our County regional transportation partners to form a connection through our district with the existing regional transit. In preparation for this, the CID 4 the EXECUTIVE