PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
One single-family home permit was issued last month with a total of 2,018 square feet.
Residential Permits Issued by Month with Year-to-Date Comparison
Residential Certificates of Occupancy Issued by Month with Year-to-Date Comparison
In the month of June, 217 building inspections were accomplished; a decrease from the 343 performed in June of last year. Year-to-date, about 500 less inspections have been performed in 2020 with 1,257 done as compared to 1,784 in 2019.
PARKS AND RECREATION
Parks. Regular maintenance was completed throughout Gary Pirkle Park. The playground equipment was thoroughly cleaned and sanitized. Several projects were completed in the Community Garden to include the pollination garden planted by volunteers. Additional projects included an art piece installed with assistance from Susie and Chris Walker and new stone added to the garden pathways.
Downtown and City Hall. Weekly maintenance occurred throughout the downtown area. The Splash Park opened in June and has been a very popular spot with the hot weather we have experienced over the past several weeks. Restrooms were thoroughly cleaned and sanitized and weeds were treated.
E Center. The gymnasium continues to operate with restrictions. There are currently 10,680 members. Regular cleaning continues daily throughout the facility. A few health and fitness classes have resumed with additional classes expected to return in September. A successful blood drive was held at the center with the maximum number of units received. The American Red Cross held their first CPR training since the pandemic began which was also a success.
Golf. The course had another successful month with a record number of golfers visiting daily. The greens were core drilled and filled with sand bringing much needed oxygen to the root system. The Sugar Hill Golf Association began their King of the Hill Tournament this month. This is an ongoing team match tournament and will crown one winner at the end of the bracket. The Sugar Hill Golf Association played a tournament on June 20th with a total of 21 players. The Flag Tournament was played on July 4th with golfers enjoying a beautiful day. For more information on the course or membership, contact a representative from the Golf Course at 770-271-0519.
EVENTS
20 Days of Summer Fun. The events staff created the campaign to encourage creativity while in the safety of your home. The i9 organization sponsored the campaign by providing mini and grand prizes for the winners to include a free full program for any of the upcoming camps or season (excluding golf).
Events. The Annual Sparks in the Park event already moved to August 1st had to be cancelled unfortunately. The cancellation comes after careful deliberation and consideration of the scale of the event, the number of positive cases of COVID-19, and the health and welfare of our community, guests, staff, volunteers, and vendors that make this night possible. To alert the public of the cancellation, the announcement was shared to the media as well as through the city’s social media channels and website. There were a few public and private rentals on the Community Plaza to include a town hall discussion, a Juneteenth Celebration hosted by the Black Women’s Association followed by a peaceful, but productive march on Highway 20 and a celebration of life event. There were also several 5K events held in the downtown area. All guests that attended the gatherings were strongly encouraged to wear masks and to follow proper social distancing guidelines. The theatre was rented by a private party to host a graduation performance for their high school seniors. There were less than 100 people in the space and as with the other events, all attendees were encouraged to wear masks and follow all safety and protective guidelines. Several inquiries have been made for rentals in The Bowl and staff is currently working to coordinate those with the interested parties.
We plan to begin the Tuesday movie events in July, limiting the ticket sales to 50 people per showing. The theatre will be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized between each show for the safety and protection of all guests. Tickets will be available on The Eagle’s website and we encourage everyone to limit exposure by purchasing tickets ahead of time online. There are two private rentals planned for the theatre which will remain at 25% capacity.
We hope to hold our first Splash Night on Friday, July 31st given no new restrictions are placed before that time and provided we can hold the event with proper safety and protection in place for attendees and staff.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT/COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
Downtown Ducks. Our creative and collaborative staff is preparing for the arrival of our new downtown ducks after a number of months of preparation. Staff is coordinating the duck naming process as well as introduction of our newest downtown residents to the public. We received over 60 name submissions from the community and a naming committee narrowed choices down to the final six pairs. Names will be shared at the council meeting tonight and Sugar Hill residents and fans will have the opportunity to vote beginning tomorrow through the 31st of July. The winning pair of names will be announced in early August. Watch on social media and the city’s website for more on our new downtown residents.
City of Sugar Hill Twitter Returns. Our @cityofsugarhill Twitter account has been reintroduced thanks to the work of the communications staff and the department’s summer intern. Increased content, improved visual presence, and linking information shared on Twitter along with the city’s other social media platforms will increase accessibility of public information so it can be shared with the public quickly and succinctly.
Sugar Hill Economic Recovery Task Force. The task force continues their work of identifying strategies to support community and economic health in the city. The task force along with its subcommittees plan to share preliminary recommendations in early August.
PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
Gas Department. The total number of transmitters on our automated metering system is now at 4,696 inching closer to the halfway mark of our total meter count. Our utility locating staff completed locate services on 705 sites for the month and worked with our construction contractors in various sites around the city to protect our underground utilities. All of our staff has been working through regulatory compliance tasks, new service installations, and 55 other service requests to round out the workload last month. We ended our customer relief policies at the end of June and extended grace periods.
Street & Stormwater Department. The street department cleared trees at Emory Drive, South Roberts Drive, Sycamore and from Appling Road blown down by recent storms. The staff delivered 21 loads of mulch and provided 11 dumpster rentals during the reporting period. Yard debris collection and other sanitation services continued in June at the reduced frequency. A total of 131 loads of bagged yard debris were collected and along with the chipped debris, produced 19 loads to the disposal site in Gainesville.
Department cleared downed trees on Whitehead Road and in Frontier Forest, after storms earlier in June. Staff also submitted the Georgia EPD annual stormwater report and checked and cleared storm drains throughout the city after heavy thunderstorms during the month. Several sinkholes at Old Spring Way, Windswept Trace, and Wild Timber Road were repaired as well.
CONSTRUCTION UPDATES
E Center. New floor finish work is coming to a conclusion with the 1st and 3rd floors having the last coat installed and waiting on time to install the other areas after hours. The fountains and pools of the E Center are operational with a few more warranty items being corrected on these systems.
Peachtree Industrial Greenway Trail Project. While the contractor is waiting on direction from a developer about the curbing for a neighborhood entrance, they have mobilized to Peachtree Industrial (PIB) and are working on curb, gutter, and storm pipe. The work on PIB will include a segment on Peachtree Industrial connecting the two parks on that road.
Whitehead Road Greenway Trail Segment. Work has been completed on nearly half a mile of new greenway primarily on Whitehead Road. This portion of the greenway will tie-in the recently completed contract with the Chattahoochee Group. Ohmshiv Construction will be building this scope along with that on Peachtree Industrial (PIB).
Sugar Hill (Main) Greenway Trail. The contract award is on the July Council agenda. Construction should begin in August.
Veterans Memorial Relocation. Final contract closeout is pending receipt of a few documents, but the fountain, eternal flame and other systems are working properly. A couple of replacement items are still on order, but installation will be scheduled when confirmation of delivery can be determined.
Gary Pirkle Park Field Improvements. Construction contract award is on the July Council agenda. Construction is expected to begin later this summer after the schedule can be coordinated with the various user groups, leagues, and programs in the park.
Art/History Room Buildout – Broadstone Project. The final design was completed and bid documents finalized for issue the first week of July.
OTHER IMPORTANT UPDATES
Updates on phased re-opening plan. We have installed permanent transaction windows at customer service and are waiting on a few parts to schedule installation at the post office. In addition, we are working on design of transaction windows for planning and zoning.
Advanced Disposal’s City-Wide Annual Cleaning Week rescheduled to week of August 24th. The Annual Cleaning event, originally scheduled for the week of May 4th was rescheduled and is planned for the week of August 24th. An updated flyer will be included in gas bills over the next two billing cycles and will be posted to the city’s website and social media.
Public Meetings. The Chattahoochee River District Public Information Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 14th from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM in the Council Chambers at Sugar Hill City Hall. This will be a drop-in open house following a short orientation and introduction. All attendees are strongly encouraged to wear masks and city staff will be pacing groups through to provide proper social distancing. The city owns nearly 260 acres bounded by Highway 20 to the south, Suwanee Dam Road to the east, Richland Creek to the north, and the Chattahoochee River Park to the west including our award-winning golf course. The purpose of the meeting is to obtain public input toward a concept plan for appropriate future uses of these properties.
Also, the city is seeking public input on a future phase of the Greenway project and has sent out a call-to-action on our social media channels to ask residents to provide their input and ideas on a virtual, interactive map. To view the project or include additional contribution, please visit www.wikimapping.com/sugarhillgreenway1.html. The Future Greenway Phase Open House and Interactive Map will be held virtually on the 15th of July from 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM. The purpose of the virtual forum is to present prospective alignment factors as well as design considerations of the future Greenway phase. The open house will offer an opportunity to learn about how the existing conditions of the study area will influence the conceptual design and consider alternative routes for this segment of trail. For more information including the meeting link and password, please visit https://cityofsugarhill.com/event/sugar-hill-greenway-open-house/.
