Newsletter of the Settles Bridge Homeowner’s Association, Inc.
Post Office Box 837 Suwanee, GA 30024
We received another call from a resident who was almost rammed by a younger driver racing into the subdivision. This accident would have been particularly bad, as the speeding car was swinging wide around the 90 degree right turn at the cul-de-sac on Settles Bridge Road - and would have met the other resident head-on.
I believe that every speeding complaint that we receive regards young, often inexperienced drivers. It also seems that not a week goes by now when we don't hear of an accident where one or more teens lose their lives. Parents of teenage children, please try again to get them to slow down. If your house is 1 mile inside our subdivision, you get home 1 minute and 12 seconds faster driving 50 mph than you do driving 25. If it is that important to them to get home, have them start just 1 1/2 minutes earlier and drive slow through our neighborhood - or they may not get home at all.
Well, temporarily at least. Here is the latest:
The original developer has pulled out, and the project has been taken over by another company. This caused a delay while the new developer submits his proposal to the Suwanee Planning and Zoning Board (P&Z). To refresh your memory, this is for a development on about 114 acres on the corner of Settles Bridge and Suwanee Dam Road. The original developer (Cannon) wanted to try and squeeze 665 homes in this patch of forest. P&Z would have not allowed the project as planned, and we believe that the new developer will use this information to submit a less ambitious project.
It looks like he will finally have his plan ready to present at the P&Z meeting to be held on November 7th (Election Day) at 6:30 at City Hall. As a new developer now has the project, there is a chance that citizens will get an opportunity to comment on the proposal. Either way, the meeting should be very interesting. Any development that will add traffic at that location will cause problems for people who work outside of their homes.
The simplest answer is yes - SPLOST. We have a chance to vote on November 7th to extend the current one-cent SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option sales Tax) for an additional 4 years. Almost 43% of the money raised will go to allow the county to purchase land for parks, recreation and greenspace preservation. Another 43% will be used for road improvements and traffic congestion reduction.
Because this is a sales tax, about 40% of the money raised comes from people who live outside our county. However, 100% of the money is spent on projects inside Gwinnett. If this same money was collected through property taxes, it would be the residents of the county footing the entire cost. And because this is not a new tax but an extension of an old one, you won't see a difference in your expenses. The Suwanee City Council passed a resolution supporting this referendum, and P&Z is very much in favor of it as well. I know all of these people, and I really believe that each of them has our best interest at heart. When you vote on the first Tuesday in November, consider voting for the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.
The Halloween Party is ON, and it is set for Halloween night (when else) from 6:30 - 7:30 at the home of Deac and Elaine Tiley, 4645 Settles Point Road. There will be Best Costume Contests (probably around 7:00) with prizes given in different age categories, from kids all the way up to adults.
There will of course be a complete supply of snacks (cookies, cupcakes, drinks, etc.) and 'goody-bags' for the kids. The Tileys want to have their house open to everyone. They have pretty extensive decks in the back by the pool, a game room in the basement that has darts, pool, a video game, a ping-pong room, and a foosball table. They are going all out for this, so please plan to attend.
It would be very helpful if you could call Ron Rogers (770-932-8276) and RSVP no later than the Thursday, October 16. This will really help with food planning.
October 3, 2000 P&Z
All members of P&Z were present except for Hardy Delay. The first thing done was to table the first item on the agenda, RZ-2000-032, which is the PMUD project scheduled near our subdivision. The new developer did not have his proposal ready.
Next they voted on a commercial site (a Corporate Campus type of business park), on the south-west side of Satellite and Lawrenceville Suwanee Road. Motorola wants to move a large part of their company right here to Suwanee, on the property adjacent to the old Falcons Complex. They plan to put a major entrance/exit right across from the RaceTrack. Most of the meeting was taken up with audience participation and discussion about this project, most of it against the development. The property is currently owned by a company called "Falcon's Nest II", and consists of 111+ acres. The developer wants to build a planned office park with some light manufacturing, spreading the project over 3 phases. Phase 1 starts with light assembly and office (called the "fulfillment center"), using shift employees to assemble and package consumer products. Phase 2 is an expansion of the fulfillment center, and phase 3 involves adding 2 buildings bringing the total square feet of office space to 470,000 and including a 5-story building. It should employ 3,500 people when it is completed (within 3-5 years).
The Suwanee Planning Department recommended some conditions, and the developer suggested some changes. In the end, P&Z voted 4 to 0 to accept the project with some conditions, and sent it on to City Council.
I also found out that they are getting ready to build a Burger King at McFarland and Peachtree Industrial, across from the Wendy's.
October 17th City Council Meeting
The PMUD right near our subdivision was first on the agenda, but the City still hasn't received the new plan (the developer promised to have it ready for the November 7 P&Z meeting), so a vote was tabled until their regularly scheduled November 21 meeting.
Next item of business was for the Motorola site, which will have a total of 1,300,000 square feet of buildings, made up of about 1/2 office and 1/2 warehouse/distribution. There was only one resident who spoke, and he spoke in opposition to this project. He talked about the current difficulty in going from Suwanee to any businesses across I-85, and asked how this would possibly help the traffic in that area.
The City gave Motorola pretty much what they wanted, and with a unanimous vote sent the developer off to start working on the project right away. The Council did add some interesting conditions to the project, like requiring the developer to add bike racks, electric vehicle recharging stations, and special parking to encourage car pools.
"Suwanee - Where everybody is a friend or neighbor" - Nick Masino, Mayor, at the October 17th City Council Meeting.
Suwanee Medical Center is having a Grand Opening on Saturday November 4th from 10:00am to 4:00pm, and they would like everyone to drop by. Tour their office and meet their doctors and staff. They will even have a Moon Walk for the kids, along with hot dogs and other goodies for kids and grown ups.
Suwanee Medical Center is a Family Practice office equipped to handle minor emergencies with full lab and x-ray facilities, and their doctors are Board Certified in Family Practice. They are currently offering Sports Physicals for $35.00 and Flu Shots for $20.00.
They are located at 960 Peachtree Industrial Blvd just north of Moore Road and the Suwanee Post Office. You can contact them at 770-831-8191 - they are open 7 Days a week from 9:00am - 7:00pm, take appointments and walk in patients, and honor most major insurance plans.
| President | David Hancock |
| Vice President | Bill Williams |
| Treasurer | Ron Rogers |
| Secretary | Diane Stoll |
| Members at Large | Mark Joshi, Richard Parker and Kim Todd |
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