Newsletter of the Settles Bridge Homeowner’s Association, Inc.
Post Office Box 837 Suwanee, GA 30024
The debate on the Planned Mix Use Development (PMUD) is not over yet. Just to refresh your memory, this proposed development (called Suwanee Junction) is planned for 114 acres at the corner of Settles Bridge and Suwanee Dam Road. Cannon Company, the developer, wants to use 89 acres of this land to build 665 dwellings, consisting of apartments, town homes, cluster homes and single-family homes. There will be four entrances to the property, three on Suwanee Dam Road and one on Settles Bridge Road.
The Planning & Zoning (P&Z) meeting on September 5th was packed, and latecomers had to stand in the back or even outside of the meeting room. The PMUD was scheduled for later in the meeting, but when Alan Landers, P&Z co-chair, recognized that most of the people present wanted to discuss Suwanee Junction, he changed the order and made this the first topic. Carol Hassell, P&Z chair, extended the discussion period to allow more people to speak.
Mark Drummond (speaking for Cannon Group) went first, reading from a prepared statement. Bob Hughes (from the developer's design firm) made comments and answered questions where appropriate. During Mark's speech, he referenced SeaSide (a PMUD type development in Florida, where he claimed they filmed The Truman Show), and implied that this type of community is a throwback to past years. Times were better, and "a 10 year old can go buy a candy bar or an ice cold Coke without mom having to gas up the Suburban."
He said that the proposed PMUD, with 6.21 residences per acre, would be built in 5 phases, finishing in 2006. While he does still want a total of 665 residences, he acknowledged that P&Z suggested lowering the dwelling count and eliminating garden style apartments. He said that the total acreage (140 acres) consists of woods, with creeks and streams, and they want to try to leave as much of the natural environment as they can.
P&Z had given him a list of things that they wanted to see changed in his plan (unfortunately I don't have a copy of these), and he concluded by suggesting a number of changes to these requested modifications as follows:
When questioned by P&Z, he acknowledged 10 to 15 test borings to check for problems with future grading, which required cutting temporary roads through the property. In response to a query from Hardy Delay, he stated that they didn't find the rumored gold mine during this process.
Various homeowners went next, and took turns voicing opposition to the project on the grounds of planned density. While well organized, many of the speakers didn't really make any new points, and many of their concerns had already been addressed by the proposed P&Z changes.
At the end of discussion, John Rispin made a motion to deny the project (which would have killed it completely). Only he and Hardy Delay (the two 'old timers') voted to deny the request, and the motion failed 3-2. The next motion (to bring it up next meeting) passed. Alan Landers, Jim Lenahan and Carrol Hassell didn't want to deny the request, but wanted to accept it with the P&Z recommendations. Hardy Delay said that he would allow the project if they could exit on Peachtree Industrial, which is not possible. He doesn't want to dump the traffic onto Suwanee Dam Road.
One of the P&Z members expressed concern to me that there may not be enough of a mix of commercial thrown in - it looks like all the planned businesses would only add about 20-30 jobs, and that certainly would not be enough to get many people to live there and walk to work. I asked him how many people that he knew lived within even 5 miles of their office, and he couldn't think of any. I believe that the average commute for Atlanta is 34 miles, and while there are office buildings here, everybody drives somewhere else to work. This has always been one of my main problems with the PMUD, and while he agreed, he asked if we would rather have a Wal-Mart or Home Depot there.
P&Z instructed the developer to contact the surrounding homeowners and get their feedback before the next meeting, but as of yet he has made no attempt to contact any of the SBHA officers. This project will be brought up again at the next meeting (October 3) and anyone who is interested is encouraged to attend. The workshop starts at 6:30, and the meeting starts at 7:00 (at City Hall), but I would encourage you to arrive early if you want a seat (at least by 6:15).
David Hancock
I was asked last week about having a second SBHA garage sale, perhaps early in November. Please let me know how you feel about this. The best way is to go to the SBHA website (www.settlesbridge.com) and click on the 'Please Send Suggestions' link at the bottom of the page.
Any ideas about the neighborhood Halloween party? I didn't hear from anyone, so I am guessing that there is not any real interest. If I am wrong, please let one of the officers know.
| 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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View of the PMUD as it exists now, near the corner of Settles Bridge and Suwanee Dam Road |
Another view of the property. |
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The abandoned gold mine (it does indeed exist!) |
What is left of a small home that once stood on the property |
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