The City of Peachtree Corners has been awarded one of the 2024 Health Wellness Grants by the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA). The grant supports the city’s commitment to facilitating positive change in workplace culture and going the extra mile for employees’ health and wellness. 

GMA is honored to collaborate with the City of Peachtree Corners at every step of their health wellness journey. Awards are made statewide to participating employers enrolled in one or more medical plans through the Georgia Municipal Employees Benefit Services (GMEBS) Life and Health Insurance Fund.

The Health Wellness Program at GMA helps members embrace a variety of skills, mindsets and cultures to encourage utmost well-being through workplace health wellness initiatives. These initiatives have demonstrated a track record of improving employee well-being and quality of life while enhancing workplace morale, reducing medical claims and maximizing cost impact.

“As a city, we are committed to fostering an environment where our employees’ health and well-being are a top priority,” said City Manager Brian Johnson. “This grant will enable us to build on our efforts to create a workplace culture that not only promotes wellness but also empowers our staff to make healthier lifestyle choices every day. Our employees are our greatest asset, and investing in their well-being ultimately benefits both the City of Peachtree Corners and the community we serve.”

Workplace health wellness

The City of Peachtree Corners has designated a Health Wellness Champion to coordinate/oversee the program and work in partnership with GMA to facilitate the planning of targeted activities. Jennifer Bonacci, assistant finance director, has expounded on how the City of Peachtree Corners will benefit from implementing workplace health wellness initiatives. 

“We are excited to use our grant money to help make a difference in the lives of our employees by creating an atmosphere of health and wellness,” said Bonacci. “Adult fitness opportunities are often put on the back burner due to work schedules, long commutes and family obligations. We hope to enable our employees to make small choices each day to increase their overall health and wellness and build a community of support and encouragement around health and wellness.”

For more about the City of Peachtree Corners, visit peachtreecornersga.gov/1/Home.

To learn more about GMA’s Health Wellness Program, visit them online here.

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.

For more information, visit peachtreecornersga.gov.

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.