PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Permits/Inspections. In the month of November, one single-family home permit was issued. New construction permits were also issued for Ridge Lake Park, Bowl Pond Improvements and for the Prestwick multifamily development at 1450 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.
Public Survey. The parks, recreation, and green space survey was closed the first week of December. We received over 400 responses. The planning team will be working in the background to analyze the data that we have collected for the next couple of months with the goal to present findings and recommendations for public comment in February.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Community Engagement. Marshals attended the Memorial Day Ceremony at the Sugar Hill Veterans Memorial Plaza. They also attended several other community events such as the Downtown Book Fair, the Red, Blue, and You event, Coffee with a Cop, and the Christmas Concert at the Eagle Theatre. Welcome Marshal Michael Parker to the team! The department is teaming up with Gwinnett County Police for their “Fill the Sleigh Toy Drive” and is collecting new unwrapped toys for local boys and girls ages 3-12 years old. For more information, contact a staff member in the Public Safety Department or if you would like to donate, there is a collection box located in the lobby of city hall. Toys will be collected through the 16th of December.
Parking. Marshals continue to monitor and tag illegally parked vehicles. Parking regulation signs are posted in areas where parking is time-restricted.
Patrols & Other Business. The Marshals continue to patrol and respond to all calls in the residential areas, businesses, and schools within the city limits of Sugar Hill. Deputy Chief Smith conducted an active shooter and emergency response training for all city employees.
PARKS AND RECREATION
Parks. Georgia Force High School Football wrapped up a very successful season with another trip to the final four tournament in Florida. All-in Futbol Club recreation leagues and academy tournaments and i9 Sports recreation leagues continue weekly. Regular maintenance occurred throughout the park. Gardeners maintained winter crops and cleaned out empty beds at the Community Garden.
E Center. Gym memberships now total 17,720. Public and private rentals continue to fill the Waterfall Rooms and classrooms. If you are interested in renting one of these spaces, contact an E Center representative and they can assist you with your reservation.
39th Street Station. The new space, called 39th Street Station is located at the lower parking level of the E Center and is the city’s new meeting and event space. For information on reserving this new space for a meeting or event, contact an E Center representative today.
Golf. The course experienced another strong month despite being closed several days for poor weather conditions. The 2-Player Alternate Shot Tournament was played on November 19th. Players enjoyed a nice day of golf despite the cold temperatures. The Santa Charity Tournament was held on December 10th. All proceeds and donated gifts from this tournament will be taken to the North Gwinnett Co-Op to brighten Christmas for local children in need. For information on becoming a Sugar Hill Golf Association (SHGA) member or course information, contact our pro shop staff at the Golf Course by calling 770-271-0519.
Ice Rink. The rink opened to the public on November 10th and has been a very popular venue. Activity is expected to increase over the next couple of weeks leading up to Christmas. Advance tickets can be purchased by visiting the Have an Ice Day website. Bring your family and friends out to enjoy this fun and unique experience in Downtown Sugar Hill!
COMMUNITY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Events. Last month we hosted several events in our downtown starting with Glance Gwinnett, held in The Eagle Theatre, Council Chambers, and Waterfall Room. The Players Guild completed their run of Over the River and Through the Woods. We hosted our annual Veterans Day Ceremony and concluded the month with a sold-out concert, John Berry’s 26th Annual Christmas Tour, and the Broad Street Band’s Holiday Concert benefiting Toys for Tots.
We kicked off December with our first of three Nutcracker performances in The Eagle Theatre and a jam-packed Holiday Celebration in our downtown. Looking ahead we have several more rentals in The Eagle Theatre as well as the nearly sold-out Lonestar Christmas and Hits show on December 15th. Concluding this month, we have our annual Winter Break Bash, where we will show Holiday movies in the theatre from December 19th through December 23rd, all the movie listings can be found on The Eagle’s website.
For tickets and information about upcoming shows and events please visit The Bowl and The Eagle websites.
PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
Gas Department. Our staff has added 10 more transmitters during the month, bringing the total to 7,886 accounts that can be read automatically through our radio-based system. The gas department staff also focused on other regulatory compliance and project support tasks during the month. For November, the utility locating technician completed services on 442 sites, down from October’s total. The staff continues to coordinate with 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 92 other service requests to round out the workload last month.
Street & Stormwater Department. During November, yard debris operations delivered 1 load of mulch and had 148 truckloads of bagged clippings collected. This resulted in 25 loads of debris to the disposal site, up twelve (12) from October’s totals. There were no open-top dumpster rentals this month. Stormwater staff delivered one load of rock (drainage channel stabilization) and remained focused on inspections, regulatory compliance, and new public/private project coordination.
CONSTRUCTION UPDATES
Sugar Hill Greenway Trail. The city’s contractor, Tri Scapes, is wrapping up the final project segments of construction for this first phase.
Work on stabilizing the slopes on either side of the trail continues. The County has completed their work on one short section of a new sewer line that conflicts with a section of trail boardwalk. Work has now begun on this last boardwalk section. The boardwalk railings are being installed now. When complete, the entire 4.7 miles of phase 1 will be ready to enjoy.
Many of the project’s natural segments follow the old Georgia DOT right-of-way for the outer perimeter, taking visitors through many of the most scenic places in the city that could have been a six-lane highway through the area.
Gold Mine Park. Tri Scapes, our contractor, has completed the pavement portion of the park, the restroom building, the dumpster enclosure and parking lot striping. The pedestrian crossing signal is working on Level Creek Road. Timber bollards will be installed along the drive and an observation deck will be installed near the entrance to the mine.
Ridge Lake Park. Reeves Young, the city’s contractor for the first phase of construction has begun erosion and clearing on the project in late November with an eight-month construction schedule.
Park Restroom Building. Design is being finalized for a restroom building to serve the new fields on the South side of Gary Pirkle Park. They will incorporate 7 unisex stalls and a water bottle filling station. We will advertise for a construction contractor this month with construction beginning in early 2023.
Bowl Pond Improvements. Intended to make this amenity more stable and usable, these improvements include replacing the failed outlet that regulates pond water level and prevents flooding, a new pavilion area for events, congregating or just relaxing and a new parking area that will also serve as a load in area for concerts and performances. The city’s general contractor, Barnsley Construction Group, has just gotten started in November.
Alton Tucker Blvd Extension. The survey work is complete, and design is well underway for an extension of Alton Tucker Boulevard with the addition of a proposed traffic signal and lane improvements on the Highway 20 intersection. This project will improve the intersection of Level Creek Road and West Broad Street, as well as extending Alton Tucker to Highway 20 at the east end of the E Center property. When design work is complete in early 2023, we will then advertise for a construction contractor.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
In the month of November, 160 new gas service applications and 127 disconnects were processed. A total of 23 new meters and 10 automatic meter readers (AMR’s) were installed. There were 11,996 active meters billed in the month of November. A total of 6 new business licenses were issued. Passport totals reached 154 with 144 photos processed this past month.
