City Government
The First Days of the City of Peachtree Corners
Peachtree Corners Community Development Director and first full-time city employee Diana Wheeler recount the early days.
Ten years ago, when I was offered the opportunity to become Peachtree Corners’ first employee, I eagerly accepted because I thought that with over 25 years of government experience, I could make a real contribution to this new city.
I didn’t realize until I visited the first City Hall building for the very first time that I would be contributing more than just my knowledge and experience. I would also be contributing my cell phone, car, laptop and credit card.
The fledgling city of Peachtree Corners had a framework for governance in place and several part-time consultants to manage operations, but there were no other permanent employees or much of anything else. The space that had been leased for City Hall was an old, empty building with glass walls and a poor ventilation system.
I had my pick of any empty office I wanted. With my architectural training and an understanding of the building’s orientation, I could tell immediately that I would have a choice of either being too cold in the winter or too hot in the summer. (I went with too cold in the winter and invested in a space heater.)
Setting, and resetting, priorities
I spent that first morning in August 2012 making a list of everything that needed to be done and then got to work on my list. The first item was a call to the cable company to sign up for internet service. There was only so much I could do on my phone. Without computers and internet, there would be no way to start up this start-up.
Next on my list was a trip to a used furniture store to see about buying desks, chairs, file cabinets and other essentials. There was no time to order new furniture and wait for delivery. I needed to buy things that were on-hand — or second hand. Fortunately, six matching office sets were found, and I told the salesperson that I would take them all.
I was feeling a great sense of accomplishment until he asked how I wanted to pay for them. I told him that the furniture was for the City of Peachtree Corners and asked if he could create an account for the city. He said he never heard of Peachtree Corners, but he could set up an account if it was tied to a credit card or a bank account.
Well, of course, Peachtree Corners had neither, so I contributed the use of my credit card and hoped that the purchase cleared. Luckily, it was the beginning of the month, so the transaction was approved — and I was off to my newly re-prioritized next destination: the bank.
All went well there, but I thought it might still be prudent to call my credit card company and see if they would raise my card limit. They did and that made me happy until I started to think about explaining the next month’s credit card bill to my husband.
January 2013
Challenges and accomplishments
Over the next few weeks, I worked to secure office equipment, including copy machines, a plotter (for maps and plans) and AV equipment, as well as basic office supplies. Fortunately, my credit card with its increased spending limit was up to the challenge and carried us over until the bank issued the city a line of credit.
Meanwhile, without the benefit of coworkers, I often needed to find creative solutions to routine challenges. For example, when trash got dumped along Peachtree Corners Circle, I reached out to Gwinnett’s Sheriff Department and made arrangements for an inmate work crew to pick it all up. And when deliveries were made to City Hall that I couldn’t physically manage, a staffing agency sent folks with strong arms to assist.
I even put my family to work. Large tables and file cases with drawers were needed for building plan review and large format projects, so my husband Robert and son John assembled big IKEA dining room tables and cabinets that were later outfitted with glass tops. They worked hard interpreting Swedish instructional hieroglyphics over the course of a weekend, and I supplied a picnic lunch of peanut butter sandwiches, because a refrigerator hadn’t yet been purchased for the break room.
Celebration for the new city
One of the biggest challenges came at the beginning of December 2012 when the City Council announced that there would be a Grand Opening of City Hall with an open house in January — and the entire community would be invited.
It seemed like an impossible goal, but the City Council had just hired City Clerk Kym Chereck and that made all the difference. The two of us worked with a consultant, developed an action plan, delegated assignments — and everyone got very, very busy.
We worked up until the very last minute. A Boy Scout troop was even recruited to raise the flag at City Hall on opening day. It didn’t occur to me until the week before that the national anthem should be played when the flag is raised for the first time. It was too late to solicit a volunteer, so again, I pressed my good-natured, trumpet player son John into service. He did an admirable job and set the tone for a jubilant day.
The highlight of the Grand Opening came when Mayor Mike Mason unveiled the city name and logo on the wall of the new Council Chambers. The unveiling generated a standing ovation and marked the realization of a dream for all those involved and for a brand-new city. It was a truly remarkable achievement.
And 10 years later, we’re still living the dream. Happy Birthday, Peachtree Corners! ■
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.
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