The mayors of Peachtree Corners, Norcross and Berkeley Lake shared their thoughts on improving the communities with American Rescue Plan money

A trio of Southwest Gwinnett County mayors talked about several aspects and impacts of the COVID crisis during a recent panel discussion, including how they were looking at spending money allocated to their cities as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

            They also focused on challenges and changes emerging from the pandemic.

            Mayors Mike Mason of Peachtree Corners, Craig Newton of Norcross and Lois Salter of Berkeley Lake fielded questions during a First Friday breakfast event hosted by the Southwest Gwinnett Chamber.

Plans for the cities

            Mason outlined how his city created a mechanism to support small businesses with grants after Gwinnett cities received federal money under the earlier CARES act. Each qualified applicant received an allocation. He noted that in addition to the grants, air filtration and other protective equipment were also tacked on at city hall.

            “With the ARPA money, we’ll do more of the same,” he said. Mason also said that plans are in the works to use some of the money to beef up broadband service in what are considered underserved areas of the city. He said some may doubt that a problem exists, but that it does.

            “We learned during the pandemic that kids couldn’t get schooling from home, because if someone was in the living room watching TV, there wasn’t enough broadcast left for the kid in his room. If we can fix that, we’re probably going to try to do that.”

            In contrast, Berkeley Lake Mayor Salter said that after spending considerable CARES money on sanitizing efforts and an air filtration system for city hall, they planned to go a different route under ARPA, using the federal funds mainly for stormwater infrastructure work. She said that with the city having no stormwater fee and with a preponderance of trees and hills, stormwater costs have been significant.

            Norcross Mayor Newton was less definitive than his counterparts, outlining that the city has created a 12-member advisory group to make recommendations to the mayor and council on how to allocate funds. “So, we took the easy route. We turned it over to the citizens to help us decide how to spend some of this money,” he said.

Post-pandemic issues to consider

            Addressing a related issue, Newton told the chamber audience that “we are not quite out of the woods yet on COVID,” contending that while declining case numbers and reopening businesses show that the vaccine is working, Georgia, as a state with a low vaccination rate, could be vulnerable to surges.

            All three mayors agreed that the pandemic has been a long-term game-changer.

            Several trends are important to consider in that regard, said Mason. He called for a show of hands and got a considerable response when he asked, “How many people are still working from home instead of going back to the office? That’s a trend.”

            Also, residents continue to order more goods online, in his view, and he spoke about challenges in the hospitality sector, noting that Peachtree Corners has more hotel rooms than any other city in the county.

            Mason said that with such mechanisms as Amazon readily available, people are reluctant to get into their cars unless a business is close by. To that end, he floated the idea of putting such residences as townhomes and apartments in closer proximity to commercial areas.

            Newton noted that while businesses are optimistic about the long run, labor shortages and supply chain issues remain challenges in the foreground. Salter took a tack similar to Mason’s, saying that “it’s online everything” with resulting changes in the retail landscape and with jumping on a plane at Hartsfield to go out of town is giving way to a plethora of Zoom meetings.

Attracting and keeping residents a concern

            The topics of affordable housing and of serving new residents while working to hang onto existing ones also came in for discussion. “As people begin to retire, you have to be ready to replace those retirees with a new generation,” said Newton. He added that recruiting qualified people leads to an expanded and better qualified workforce, which he said attracts more business and which, nowadays, is a more important factor than location.

            In one tactic, he said the city of Norcross has positioned itself to attract more younger residents by hiring an events coordinator to focus on new entertainment and event programming. He also said that the city has joined forces with a state-sponsored program called the Georgia Initiative for Community Housing. The group has come up with some potential affordable housing solutions for Norcross to be discussed in the near future, according to the mayor.

            Mason took Newton’s talk of replacing those leaving the work force with a new generation one step further, arguing for retaining retirees and their disposable income. “Do we really want to lose them to, say, Florida?” he asked. “No, you want to keep them in your city. And they want to stay. If you don’t keep retiring citizens in your city, you’re done for.”

            The Peachtree Corners mayor touted adaptive reuse of existing buildings as the best solution for providing more affordable housing overall, and said news of such a project may be on the horizon. Tearing down and replacing aging apartment complexes on the city’s south side has been talked about, but Mason indicated the numbers may not work for developers.

            Pointing out that her city is essentially built out, Salter said they have attracted a number of new residents nonetheless, with people tearing down existing bungalows and putting up larger residences. She said city efforts have centered around such events as July 4^th programming and in providing a children’s park and other kids’ activities to bring residents together.

Leaders discuss cities’ goals

            She struck a similar tone when the mayors were queried about their goals. “My goal is to preserve the cohesiveness that I think has come under somewhat of a challenge this past year with what we’ve seen in our larger political culture,” said Salter. “People are seeming more cranky with each other, for lack of a better word. It’s made me sad and concerned.”

            She added that “it’s such a small town and we know each other well so I think the mayor has a little more ability to point people in a direction.”

            Mason put weight on continuing “sense of place” producing efforts in the young city. He also pushed improving amenities such as walking trails, which not only can improve residents’ health but add value to homes as well, he said. He added the city also needs to continue working on both economic development and redevelopment of aging structures and that a number of alternative redevelopment strategies are being weighed.

            “It’s not a simple question,” was Newton’s initial reply.

            He said he’s focused on increasing economic vitality and quality of life by protecting the city’s downtown and expanded city center, which would include redevelopment and expansion to the east across Buford Highway. He said two other goals involve increasing public safety through improved technology and maintaining the sustainability of parks, historic structures and natural resources.

            In considering all those initiatives, indicated his counterpart in Peachtree Corners, it’s important to remember that their impacts can easily stretch across city borders. “Craig and I say it to each other all the time,” said Mike Mason. “A rising tide lifts all boats.”