Twelve Tesla V3 Superchargers are now operational at Peachtree Corners Town Center
Hubject, an eMobility consultancy specializing in assisting cities in accelerating their community’s transition to electric vehicles (EVs), and Peachtree Corners city leaders have worked together to create a comprehensive electrification plan for one of the first true smart city environments in the United States.
Taking into consideration the EV charging needs of the city’s residents, businesses and visitors now and into the future, the plan is a holistic electrification model that can serve as a clear example for other municipalities and counties. Hubject was selected to manage the project due to the company’s extensive global knowledge of and world-class experience in the eMobility landscape. The inaugural project is a state-of-the-art EV fast-charging plaza capable of fast-charging up to 16 vehicles simultaneously.
“We enjoy working with motivated and forward-thinking municipalities because together we are able to efficiently create a well-planned electrification strategy that supports the entire city”, said Thomas Doran, Senior Director of Hubject North America. “We hope that this project with Peachtree Corners will inspire other municipalities nationwide to actively begin planning their city’s electric vehicle infrastructure, ensuring residents and businesses are able to easily electrify.”
In June of 2020, city leaders engaged Hubject to provide guidance and technical support in developing a future proof EV charging plan. Hubject’s analysis identified that Peachtree Corners was essentially an EV fast-charging desert, especially when considering the growing statistics concerning electric vehicle ownership in and around the city. The company analyzed the city’s residential, business and retail layout, as well as traffic patterns and electrical capacity to identify the ideal location for a charging plaza. Located at Peachtree Corners Town Center, the charging plaza is well placed for drivers, offering extensive shopping and dining options.
Twelve Tesla V3 Superchargers are now operational at the plaza and four universal charging stations, two 350 kW chargers and two 150 kW chargers, will go live in the new year. By early January, the plaza will be capable of charging all types of EV models. This plaza will be one of the largest public charging facilities in the state of Georgia and the largest in metro Atlanta.
“More than 55,000 vehicles a day will pass by the new charging hub via a main corridor, reflecting our initiative’s immense impact on the larger region, in addition to Peachtree Corners residents,” said Brian Johnson, city manager of Peachtree Corners. “Not only is this a significant economic driver for our city, attracting retail and other related activities, but it’s also serving as a model for other communities across the nation to follow as electrification continues to expand.”
The chargers installed at the Peachtree Corners Town Center were funded by the charging network providers, who recognized the value of the site to their customers.
“As EV adoption increases exponentially, both in Georgia and nationally, our infrastructure will have to grow rapidly to support the needs of drivers and business owners,” said Tim Echols, Public Service Commissioner for the State of Georgia. “We’re excited to see progressive municipalities like Peachtree Corners leading the way by working with partners like Hubject to create infrastructure models that can be used as learning tools within the state.”
The partnership between Hubject and Peachtree Corners is set to continue into 2021 as the electrification plan continues to roll out. Included are additional grant-funded electrification projects and other EV charging efforts – paving the road for easy residential and fleet electrification within the city of Peachtree Corners and their smart city technology innovation center, Curiosity Lab.
“As one of the first real-world smart cities in the country, we pride ourselves in leading the way with ‘firsts’ – from fully autonomous electric shuttles driving alongside regular vehicles, the world’s first fleet of teleoperated e-scooters deployed for residents to now the largest EV charging hub in the entire metro Atlanta area,” said Brandon Branham, chief technology officer and assistant city manager of Peachtree Corners. “With the help of Hubject and our partners, we were able to create an advanced infrastructure plan that further reinforces us as a model for the American city of the future – embracing the latest emerging technologies to better the lives of residents.”
Post 1 Councilmember Phil Sadd is hosting a non-partisan town hall meeting at Winters Chapel United Methodist Church on Tuesday, October 29 at 7 p.m.
The meeting will begin with an update on activities in the City of Peachtree Corners and an overview of plans for future projects.
“The upcoming town hall will not only provide our residents with information and an opportunity to ask questions, but will also allow me to hear directly from them about their concerns and desires for the future of our city,” said Sadd.
Topics to be discussed include:
New development/redevelopment
Trails and parks
Transportation improvement projects
November 5 ballot questions
Candidates for state and county local seats
An informative public forum
For the upcoming November 5 election, Peachtree Corners voters will have decisions to make on very important local issues. Topics on the ballot include a county-wide transit SPLOST referendum, amendments to the state constitution and the election of local state and county Officials.
“Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a public forum in Peachtree Corners during this election cycle that covers all these topics,” Sadd stated. “Every voter should have the opportunity to be informed about every item on the ballot, so they fully understand each question they need to answer and each vote they need to make.”
The Town Hall will provide information about these topics, as well as an opportunity to hear from and meet the local state (both senate and house) and county (chairman and commissioner) candidates that are on the ballot.
(left to right), Bobby Cobb, Mayor Mike Mason, Mayor Lois Salter and Mayor Craig Newton // Photos courtesy of George Hunter
In what has now become tradition, the Southwest Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce hosted mayors from Berkeley Lake, Norcross and Peachtree Corners at a panel discussion on July 12 at the Hilton Atlanta Northeast.
The conversation centered around strategies for revitalizing and expanding metro Atlanta cities, with a focus on redevelopment, zoning ordinance reform, pedestrian and bicycle safety and investing in local schools and affordable housing initiatives.
Zoning changes
“We are beginning a really big project in our city. We have had ordinances that we’ve been working on ever since the city was incorporated in the 1950s,” said Berkeley Lake Mayor Lois Salter.
“We feel that we need to overhaul the whole zoning ordinance system and hire a consultant to come and elicit understanding and opinions from our citizens. We want them to be a part of that. We have some folks that resist any kind of regulation. They just want us to regulate their neighbors,” she added.
Norcross Mayor Craig Newton agreed that evolving needs are an important reason to change the zoning, and planning for what lies ahead is paramount. He pointed out that all Georgia cities must implement a comprehensive plan to maintain their qualified local government certifications and remain eligible for selected state funding.
Land development
“We intend to focus on improving pedestrian bicycle safety downtown and establish a sidewalk activity improvement,” he said. “We’re also looking at approving parking in our town center and constructing the Norcross Greenway, which will bring a much-welcomed park, green space and a trail,” he added.
The county announced earlier this year that the project involves redeveloping the existing property into a park that will span almost two acres. It will offer various community spaces, including a multi-use trail, playground, covered picnic area, restroom building and a 41-space parking lot.
In addition to its amenities, a 12-foot-wide concrete trail segment will wind through the park and utility corridor, connecting Singleton Road to Dickens Road.
The trail is part of the 2018 Gwinnett Trails Countywide Trails Master Plan‘s Norcross to Lilburn Trail with an internal loop trail connecting to the neighborhood.
Commercial use
Peachtree Corners has had several “community-friendly” projects come online in the past year, but the effects of the pandemic continue to linger.
“When you think about the future, you’re thinking about the landmass and buildings and commerce. Probably the most significant issue facing a lot of us in the near term is modern office space,” said Peachtree Corners Mayor Mike Mason. “There’s a lot of space. The question is, are people going to come back?”
He said that the central retail area has shifted with the revitalization of The Forum and that’s making city leaders rethink city planning.
“We’re having a look at our code and things like that. But from another point of view that will drive the decision about what communities are going to look like,” he said. “For example, there are people coming into the city that say some buildings are technologically obsolete.”
Public safety
Even though Berkeley Lake is the smallest of the three cities and has the highest average home values, all the mayors agreed that public safety is a growing concern.
“Living in Norcross offers residents a dense suburban feel that’s somewhat rural compared to the city of Atlanta,” said Newton. “But some of our public safety initiatives are increasing police presence in high crime areas.”
As the only one of the three cities with a full police department, Norcross is seeking creative ways to implement effective community policing strategies to build trust and communication between law enforcement and the residents.
Newton mentioned programs such as Neighborhood Watch, youth outreach programs and educational initiatives along with enhancing emergency response capabilities with training for the local fire department and EMS services.
“Our response time goal is for an officer to be on-site in an emergency within 30 minutes,” he said. “But that doesn’t happen.”
Extended-stay hotels tend to attract crime, so Newton said the city has worked with owners to improve lighting in the public spaces to deter criminal activity.
“We’ve partnered with nonprofit businesses and local stakeholders to support social services employment opportunities for at-risk individuals,” he said. “By working together with various organizations and entities were able to address the complex challenge of public safety.”
Community accountability
With no police force, Berkeley Lake relies heavily on cameras and old-fashioned “knowing your neighbors,” said Salter.
“Some of our individual HOAs are buying and furnishing and paying for cameras to safeguard their neighborhoods,” she said.
Although there may be pockets of criminal behavior around the city, Salter said a police officer once described Berkeley Lake as a “black hole” of crime because there’s so little crime data.
“One of the reasons for that we feel is that historically we’ve been a very neighborly people,” she said. “There is an amazing system of community cohesiveness.”
Peachtree Corners is taking its own approach.
“We’ve recently added a Marshal Service and as Lois mentioned we’re also leaning on technology,” said Mason.
The marshal department doesn’t take the place of the services provided by Gwinnett County Police, it primarily enforces city code and aids Gwinnett PD when necessary.
“We’re utilizing as much technology as we can,” said Mason.
Gwinnett PD is instructing where to locate cameras and the city keeps adding them. There have been several instances in the last year or so where coordination among agencies and the use of technology have thwarted or caught criminals.
At the end of the day, the three mayors said the cities all rely on each other. Being so close means that economic development, enhanced entertainment and other desirable amenities are boons for them all.
From Peachtree Corners Mayor Mike Mason’s monthly column.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, the city noticed a development trend that focused on the importance of social interaction. It began seeing development applications for indoor pickleball, virtual racing, garden clubs, car clubs and other recreational uses.
When our city was established in 2012, it adopted Gwinnett County’s codes and ordinances to maintain consistency and these new social interaction-focused uses were not initially considered in the city’s current Comp Plan or zoning code.
Working from home is another market trend having a big impact on local office parks. This economic engine is driven by office parks such as Technology Park and there’s always been a priority placed on preserving office stock.
Even though the commercial office market is waning right now, that pendulum is still trying to figure out where it will settle in. Most of these new socially focused uses find the best home in an office setting.
Due to the increasing number of these applications and the evolving market trends, the city has imposed a six-month moratorium on projects in the Central Business District character area. The moratorium came into effect on May 3 and will end on November 3.
This halt will allow the city six months to pause rezoning applications, special use permits and variances applications for residential or mixed-use development. It will help the city maintain the status quo, stop new applications from coming in and allow for officials to consult with experts and delve deeper into the code and comprehensive plans.
The city plans to conduct extensive research, analysis and strategic planning during this period to help determine if any changes should be made to the comprehensive plan and zoning regulations.
For instance, it might be beneficial to designate downtown as a distinct character area separate from the central business district. Implementing new zoning regulations to transform it into an entertainment district or a unique downtown character area could be a viable option. Many cities have already adopted this type of zoning.
Office parks and businesses throughout the city provide a balance of jobs and residents that allow the city to be the second largest in the state with a zero-millage rate or no city property tax.
Therefore, as part of this process the city will research ways it can preserve, stabilize and enhance the economic engine through the activation of underutilized spaces within office parks.
This proactive approach will help maintain the job-to-resident balance that allows the zero-millage rate while positioning the city for success as the office market pendulum settles.
The most important thing this moratorium does is allow the city to consider what will work best for Peachtree Corners. Furthermore, it communicates to developers that the city requires a pause because current zoning regulations and comprehensive plan do not adequately address future goals.