City Government

From the Mayor’s Desk – An Introduction to the 2021 State of the City

Published

3 years ago

December 1, 2021

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

While 2021 has continued to be a year where we are all still dealing with effects of the pandemic, I am happy to say that the state of Peachtree Corners is very good. As a city, Peachtree Corners continues to thrive and grow and provide our citizens with a great quality of life.

As we enter the holiday season and move towards 2022, I want to announce the release of this year’s State of the City address. This year, we are delivering this address via video, due to COVID, but next year we look forward to doing this again in person. While the State of the City video will provide a more detailed look at where we are as a city, I wanted to provide a brief overview of why the City and our residents are poised to be even more successful in the upcoming year.

To begin, Peachtree Corners has seen a very rapid recovery following the major outbreaks of the pandemic. One of the keys to that recovery has been the ability to get people back to work. During its peak, unemployment in the City reached 5.7%. Currently, we sit at 3.4% and that number continues to decline. One thing that helped make this possible was the City’s use of the almost $5 million the City received in CARES Act funding that was used to aid small businesses in their recovery. We will continue to use an additional $16.4 million in American Rescue Plan Funding.

In addition to the recovery of our businesses, the City continues to work to improve our amenities and quality of life for our residents. The Town Center continues to be a hub of activity, and as we move into 2022, we plan to continue our offering of an array of events for the public. We have moved through the fall period with our Sports on the Screen, watched as our Atlanta Braves became World Series Champions and will continue to watch as the Georgia Bulldogs chase a national championship. We will close out the year with our Holiday Glow 2021 on December 3rd. This event will be even bigger than last year, and we hope you join us as we celebrate with our friends and neighbors.

2022 will bring even more additions to the Town Center. The City is currently looking to add additional playground equipment near the Veterans monument, as well as some additional seating. We will continue the construction of the Corners Connector in the Town Center with the addition of a skywalk that will also include stairs that lead to the stream and a boardwalk along the stream’s banks with native plantings. The City continues to work towards the construction of the Connector with planned segments from Peachtree Corners Circle to Tech Park and along East Jones Bridge Road.

The City continues to see growth and expansion of Curiosity Lab. In just under two years, the City has worked with numerous national companies including Carmax, Brightree, ASHRAE, Soliant, and most recently Intuitive Surgical. Intuitive Surgical is currently expanding and is developing their east coast headquarters in Peachtree Corners. This development will include an investment of over $500M over 5 years in a new campus and the creation of 1,200 new jobs with an average salary of 130k. This expansion will make Intuitive Surgical the City’s largest employer by 2024.

Curiosity Lab currently has about 14 research projects including the first 5G wireless rollout in the metro Atlanta area. In 2020, Atlanta was named a French technology hub for French startups, and Peachtree Corners is proud to house the French American Chamber of Commerce headquarters at Curiosity Lab.

With the success of Curiosity Lab, the city will be hosting the V2X Live 2022 conference & exhibition in March of 2022. The event, presented by T-Mobile and sponsored by Intel, is produced in partnership with the Curiosity Lab and will showcase thought leaders from a wide range of technology ecosystems, including 5G mobility, cloud computing, software innovation, autonomous vehicles, smart city infrastructure and more.

This is just an overview of why Peachtree Corners is in a wonderful position as we enter 2022. We successfully managed thru the worst of the pandemic—while helping those who have struggled—and we will continue to do that, until we have all fully recovered. As has been said, “It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself, that determines how your story will be written.”

I invite you to watch our full State of the City at https://ptccity.com/321KQ6Z and look forward to working with the community as we continue to make Peachtree Corners the best city it can be for our residents and visitors.

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City Government

The Future of Law Enforcement in Peachtree Corners: Community Meeting

Published

5 days ago

April 14, 2025

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

Flyer for a community meeting regarding law enforcement in Peachtree Corners.

The City of Peachtree Corners will hold an important public meeting on May 8 to discuss the future of law enforcement in our community — including the potential creation of a city police department.

This meeting will feature a presentation by City Manager Brian Johnson on the findings of a comprehensive Police Analysis & Staffing Study that evaluated the feasibility and projected costs of forming a city police department based on current workload, crime levels and community demographics.

The presentation will also include budgetary considerations, comparative models and the advantages and disadvantages of a county vs. city police department.

Following the presentation, there will be time for a Q&A and open dialogue.

In-person attendance is limited to 300. First come, first served. A livestream option will be available for those who can’t attend in person.

After the meeting, a follow-up survey will be available on the city’s project page.

Meeting details

The Future of Law Enforcement in Peachtree Corners

Date/Time: May 8, 2025 at 7 p.m.

Location: Christ the King Lutheran Church (5775 Peachtree Parkway)

For more information, visit peachtreecornersga.gov.

City Government

Councilmember Eric Christ: 2025 Peachtree Corners Municipal Elections

Published

2 months ago

March 3, 2025

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

A white man with glasses, wearing a dark colored jacket walking in the road alongside a line of vintage cars.

Source: Peachtree Corners Post 2 Councilmember Eric Christ’s recent newsletter.

Peachtree Corners Municipal Elections Tuesday, November 4 in white font on a blue background.

On Tuesday, November 4, we will have municipal elections here in the City of Peachtree Corners for three council seats. [And] for the first time since 2013, there will be a state-wide election on the same day as our city general election.

The state-wide election is to fill two seats on the Public Service Commission, which regulates Georgia Power and other utilities.

For the PSC election, the Gwinnett County Board of Elections will have all 156 county precincts open on November 4. Historically, Peachtree Corners has had a single voting location for city elections — at City Hall.

If we do the same this year, citizens who want to vote in both the PSC and the City Council elections will need to go to two places to cast their ballots.

A few years ago, I convinced the County Board of Elections to remove their prohibition against the Gwinnett Elections Department managing city elections. (Every county surrounding Gwinnett already offered this service to their cities.)

This means there is the potential of adding our city council elections to the county ballot.

I would like to hear your thoughts on the pros and cons of combining our city council races with the county’s for this year’s elections.

Please complete my brief survey by clicking here.

To sign up for Councilmember Christ’s newsletter or find him on social media, visit linktr.ee/votechrist.

You can read more from his latest newsletter updates here and here.

City Government

City of Peachtree Corners Receives Distinguished Budget Presentation Award

Published

3 months ago

January 31, 2025

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

For the eighth year in a row, the City of Peachtree Corners has been esteemed with the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award. This award was presented by the Georgia Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for the City’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget submission.

The award represents a significant achievement by the entity. It reflects the commitment of the governing body and staff to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting. To receive the budget award, the entity had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These guidelines are designed to assess how well an entity’s budget serves as a:

policy document
financial plan
operations guide
communications device

Budget documents must be rated “proficient” in all four categories and in the fourteen mandatory criteria within those categories to receive the award.

Certificate of Recognition

When a Distinguished Budget Presentation Award is granted to an entity, a Certificate of Recognition for Budget Presentation is also presented to the individual(s) or department designated as being primarily responsible for having achieved the award.

“Congratulations to the entire finance team on receiving this award,” said City Manager Brian Johnson.

“This recognition is a testament to our team’s hard work, professionalism and commitment to excellence.”

There are over 1,700 participants in the Budget Awards Program. The most recent Budget Award recipients, along with their corresponding budget documents, are posted quarterly on GFOA’s website.

Award recipients have pioneered efforts to improve the quality of budgeting and provide an excellent example for other governments throughout North America.

About the GFOA

The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) advances excellence in government finance by providing best practices, professional development, resources and practical research for more than 21,000 members and the communities they serve.

About the City of Peachtree Corners, Georgia

As the heart of what is being called #SiliconOrchard in the metro Atlanta region, Peachtree Corners is a vibrant municipality that’s home to more than 45,000 residents and an innovation hub that houses some of the world’s most disruptive technology companies.

As the United States’ premier smart city powered by real-world connected infrastructure and 5G, Peachtree Corners serves as the model for how government and private industry can better collaborate to create a better future for society and business.

From the world’s first deployment of teleoperated e-scooters to fully autonomous shuttles being utilized by actual residents, and from a solar roadway to the largest electric vehicle charging hub in the region, Peachtree Corners is where the most future-forward Internet of Things (IoT) and sustainable technologies come to life for the benefit of its people and the world.

For more information, visit peachtreecornersga.gov.