PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Permits/Inspections. Three (3) single family home permits with an average of 2,677 heated square feet were issued during the month of April. Uptown Wings located at the southeast corner of West Broad Street and Highway 20 opened for business. Several burn permits were issued throughout April. The county-wide burn ban begins the 1st of May and runs through the 30th of September.
PARKS AND RECREATION
Parks. ALL-IN Futbol Club and i9 Sports seasons are well underway and running smoothly. The expansion project at the Community Garden is now complete. Over seventy gardeners are enjoying the new expansion and growing a wonderful spring harvest. The pollination garden was replanted this month and will be a great added feature to the Community Garden.
Downtown and City Hall. Weekly maintenance was performed throughout the downtown area and on the grounds of City Hall. Fresh mulch and plants were added to the beds along West Broad Street and the Plaza and Bowl were cleaned in preparation for upcoming outdoor events.
E Center. Gym memberships have reached 12,994 and thorough cleaning practices continue throughout the facility. Private rentals in the Waterfall Room and classrooms have increased.
Splash Park. The Splash Park is open and has been a very popular spot with the warmer weather.
Golf. April continued a successful trend with pleasant weather and good attendance at the course. Atlanta Golf League began playing at the course on Thursday afternoons. This is a fun, but competitive nine-hole league that has brought many new guests to the course. The Triple 6 Tournament was played on April 17th and eighteen players enjoyed perfect weather and a great day of play. The NET Championship is scheduled for Saturday, May 15th and there are still openings for anyone interested. For more information, on becoming a member or course information, contact one of the friendly staff members at the Golf Course by calling 770-271-0519.
COMMUNITY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Events. A total of twenty-eight (28) events, city-sponsored and rentals included, were held in the month of April. For the first time, we hosted the show, Dynasty, to film in The Eagle Theatre and inside Rushing Trading Company. The episode will air on the 6th of August. Also, for the first time, we hosted a prom outside in The Bowl and The Plaza. Lanier High School had a great turnout and hopes to return in the future. In May, we will have twenty-three (23) events, including the first Splash Night of the year, Sugar Hill Live events, outdoor movies, and the annual Memorial Day Ceremony. All these events can be found on The Bowl website or the City’s Facebook page. We welcomed two new part-time staff members in the department. Students and Sugar Hill residents, Lexi Ducote and Chase Rehak will be assisting in various event spaces and we are excited to have them as part of the team.
Economic Development. The Sugar Hill Economic Recovery Task Force is now meeting quarterly to collaborate on ways to make our businesses and our city more successful and an even better resource. Our current projects include finding a way to assist more marginalized communities in getting COVID vaccinations and how we can address the current hiring crisis that is affecting industries such as healthcare and hospitality. The Regions Bank Business Development initiative held their second webinar of the series in partnership with the Suite Spot. This is one of the many initiatives to air our local businesses’ growth. If you are interested in joining either of these groups or have resources to share, please reach out to Nadia Merritt at nmerritt@cityofsugarhill.com.
Communications. The City has several websites, social media pages, e-newsletter lists, and email lists residents can subscribe to. We encourage residents to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, subscribe to our e-blasts, and pick up your local paper to see what is happening in Sugar Hill. The Soofa boards in the downtown area and Q&A with the Mayor on social media are just two of the many creative ways we are informing our community of all we have to offer. For more information on the developments in Sugar Hill, you can check out Gwinnett Magazine or Explore Georgia next month for articles on what is being built in downtown.
PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
Gas Department. We are hovering at just over the halfway mark for the installation of our automated metering system, out of 11,800 meter locations. Our utility locating staff completed services on exactly 500 sites and worked with our construction contractors on various sites around the city to protect our underground utilities. Staff has been working through regulatory compliance tasks, new service installations, and 58 other service requests to round out the workload last month. The staff has had a couple of noteworthy incidents with a damaged regulator station as well as managing the service installation at the new warehouse on Peachtree Industrial.
Street & Stormwater Department. Yard debris operations increased to twenty (20) loads of mulch and 125 truckloads of bagged clippings collected. This resulted in twenty-three (23) loads of debris to the disposal site. The stormwater department responded to four (4) requests for rock to ensure stormwater stabilization. Our stormwater staff has been focused on getting ready for our Georgia Environmental Protection annual report, which closed at the end of April as well as working to stay ahead of our spring storms.
CONSTRUCTION UPDATES
Sugar Hill (Main) Greenway Trail. TriScapes Construction (TSI) has completed the 2,500 linear feet of new concrete trail along Level Creek Road and connecting segments with the next focal point being EE Robinson Park (North). TSI has the asphalt portions of the trail through the park graded, graveled and ready for pavement as soon as the weather permits. The raised crosswalk and retaining walls have been completed in this section as well. A proposed at-grade trail crossing on Level Creek Road is being installed between the Markim Forest subdivision and the back entrance to Gwinnett Church. Surveying & clearing continues in the remaining sections, these sections will get underway later in the Spring.
This phase of the greenway trail includes 4 and a half miles of trail construction, beginning at the intersection of Level Creek Road and Church Street and extending both along roadways and through natural areas to Whitehead Road, temporarily ending at a trailhead parking lot at the Bethany UMC Church located at 144 Whitehead Road near the new bridge. The Whitehead Road trailhead at the Bethany United Methodist Church parking lot is under construction.
Sweet City/22-Acre Passive Park Project. The lower pond on the property has been the focus of recent investigative work by our geotechnical engineer and unfortunately need to be rebuilt in its entirety to ensure safe operation and recreational use. Architectural design work has been completed for the restroom and pavilion building to establish a style consistent with historic uses on the property.
Roadway Resurfacing & Repairs 2020/2021. Construction is underway. The following roads are slated for inclusion in the proposed contract:
Princeton Oaks Drive
Megan Court
Hunters Oak Trail
Bankside Court
Amberside Court
Amberside Lane
Riverside Walk Drive
River Ridge Lane
Appling Road
Frontier Drive
Forest Green Way
White Oak Drive
Frontier Way
Frontier Trail
Davis Street
Mountain Ridge Way
Spring Willow Drive
Grand Loop Road
Eagles Rest Trail
Summer Breeze Lane
Long Needle Court
The highlighted roads above have been completed or are very nearly at completion as of the end of April. Due to the competitive costs and growing certainty of rising future costs, four more streets are being considered for approval to add to the contract, keeping the project below the biennial budget total.
Gold Mine Park. Bids for this 9-acre passive park’s construction are currently being considered for award. The park serves as a trailhead on the city’s greenway and offers a chance for guests to learn more about the city’s gold mining history.
