the_executive

Community Improvement District

(CID) is an organization created to

cover a specific geographical area with

certain limited taxing powers.

These additional tax revenues

are spent on area improvements

such as roads, streetscaping,

and revitalization. Georgia law

regulates the creation of CIDs by

requiring voluntary participation

by a certain portion of property

owners with a certain portion of

the tax value in the area. Although

an additional tax is collected by

the County Tax Commissioner, a

CID is created under state law by

a majority of the area's property

owners, not by the county.

Lilburn Community

Improvement District interim

Executive Director Taylor

Anderson of Blue Landworks

[Since the writing of this story,

Emory Morseberger has been

named as the Executive Director

of the Lilburn CID.] recently

sat down with the Executive

Directors of Gwinnett’s three

largest CIDs – Joe Allen

of Gwinnett Place, Chuck

Warbington of Gwinnett Village,

and Jim

Brooks

of Evermore – to

ask a few questions

about the

challenges, wins,

and goals for their

respective CIDs.

Taylor

Anderson:

What

was your biggest

success over the

past year?

Joe Allen:

In partnership with

Gwinnett County, work has

begun on five new intersection

improvement projects. These

projects are either in design or

beginning construction. Another success

is the new streetscapes along Gwinnett’s

Main Street, Pleasant Hill Road. We have

just completed phase 4 with new pedestrian

lighting, landscaping, plazas and other

pedestrian-oriented enhancements. We are in

the final design phase for another

streetscape project along Satellite

Boulevard, which we plan to have

under construction very soon.

We have Russell Landscape

out five days a week maintaining

the 10 miles of roadway that form

the CID, and we’ve removed over

25 tons of trash last year, over

1,100 illegal signs, and – actually

a new stat we are starting to track

– had removed over 50 illegal

donation boxes. Those are just

the stats for last year alone. Also,

thanks to Gwinnett County Police

and the CID-funded community

patrols, the greater Gwinnett

Place area continues to experience

double digit crime reduction. The

CID is committed to insuring

that the district remains well-

maintained and safe.

We held the ribbon cutting

ceremony celebrating the opening

of Gwinnett’s first diverging

diamond interchange (DDI) at

Pleasant Hill Road over I-85 last

summer, and a few stats on that

project: 51 percent decrease in

the average number of stops, 43 percent

decrease in the total delay along that portion

of Pleasant Hill Road, and a 20 percent

reduction of accidents right there at the

bridge.

We’ve been working for the past six

months on what we’re calling our “Catalyst

Site Initiative,” where we are talking with the

larger property owners in the area, finding

out ‘what are your plans for that shopping

center or piece of property.’ We are now

“match-making” those property owners with

regional developers to share with them

the opportunities available in Gwinnett’s

emerging urban core at Gwinnett Place in

order to jumpstart the redevelopment process.

ChuckWarbington:

Over the last year

I think one of the results of a lot of the work

we have put into the area came to fruition

when we led the county in regards to tax

Gwinnett Community Improvement

Districts work together for the

betterment of our community

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GWINNET T COUNTY

THE EXECUTIVE – Q3 2015

PAGE 4

ONE

ALL FOR

Taylor Anderson

Joe Allen

Chuck Warbington

Jim Brooks

ALL

AND ONE FOR