PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Nineteen new homes were built this month including three single-family detached homes with an average floor area of 2,174 heated square feet and sixteen townhomes with an average floor area of 1,874 heated square feet.
In July 2019, a total of 354 inspections were conducted. Correction was required on 31% of all initial inspections and all required re-inspection. These numbers are very similar to those of last July when we conducted a total of 345 inspections; however, a slightly lower pass rate of 62% occurred on initial inspections.
Year-to-date, our code enforcement team processed a total of 1,043 cases on 731 properties throughout the city and conducted over 2,500 inspections.
PARKS AND RECREATION
Parks. Design work is underway for the Gary Pirkle Park improvements to the natural turf side of the park. Weekly maintenance was also performed during July. Tree trimming around the walking paths, light poles and cameras as well as pressure washing of the bridges were completed. All In Futbol Club held several soccer camps while i9 completed summer soccer and flag football leagues. Georgia Force High School football practice was held at the park in preparation of the upcoming fall season. A workday was held in the Community Garden, which is also experiencing great success and interest.
Downtown and City Hall. Weekly maintenance to city hall, The Suite Spot, The Bowl and the plaza were completed including the cleaning and spraying of weeds throughout the downtown area. Fresh mulch was applied to the landscaped beds around city hall.
E Center. The gym continues to gain popularity and now has a total of 6,735 members. Signage was installed on both the interior and exterior of the facility with additional signs coming soon. Several private events were held this past month in the Waterfall Banquet Room and several groups met in the classroom throughout the month.
Golf. Despite the extremely hot temperatures, July was another successful month with several tournaments being held to include the Deluxe Athletics Annual Tournament and the Sugar Hill Golf Association Tournament. Weekly maintenance of the greens to include treatment applications continues to improve course conditions. New bag stands were donated and installed at the driving range. Storm drainage projects were completed on the ponds near holes 3 and 18 and both ponds are now full and in use for irrigation.
EVENTS
The Eagle Theatre. The theatre saw its most successful series of movies to date with a total of 2,275 people in attendance. The Eagle hosted a great Tom Petty Tribute show and a total donation of $1,500 from those ticket sales was contributed to the Sarcoma Foundation of America. The theme of the upcoming August movie series is “Tuesday Night Lights”. Films will include The Blindside on the 6th of August, We Are Marshall on the 13th, Radio on the 20th and Remember the Titans on the 27th of August.
The Players Guild is beginning their sixth season with the production of Calendar Girls on August 16th which will run two weekends through the 25th of August. Tickets and information on these shows as well as others in their season are available at www.eagleatsugarhill.com.
The Bowl. A sold-out performance by Blood, Sweat and Tears was held at The Bowl on August 3rd. Despite fast-moving severe weather that passed through, the show was a great success. Clay Walker is the next artist to perform in the series with High Valley and Matt Stell performing as the openers for the evening. Private rental events of The Bowl will be held on the 10th and 24th of August.
Gwinnett Municipal Association Meeting. The city hosted the monthly general session of the Gwinnett Municipal Association on Wednesday evening at The Eagle and The E Center with a record number of nearly 90 attendees. This was also GwMA’s “Hometown Connection” meeting where legislative delegates from across the county were invited to join other leaders in the community to include Mayors, City Council Members and officials throughout Gwinnett County. It was a great opportunity for county and state leaders to connect and express their plans to the group.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT/COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
E Center. Indio Brewing held their grand opening celebration on July 20th with a keg tapping, live music and plenty of great beer on tap. They are open in the E Center Wednesday through Sunday. Sweet City Smiles dental practice is now open and serving patients. A grand opening celebration is scheduled for later this month. Local artist, Craig Tilley, opened The Grapevine Wall Flow Space on the second floor of the center. This is a free interactive art exhibition made up of thought-provoking “vines” that encapsulate the room, an augmented reality feature, a playable game and more.
Sugar Hill space cadets celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission launch to the moon on the 16th of July. As part of NASA’s Global Rocket Launch, nearly 200 community members joined the Georgia Wing, Civil Air Patrol to launch 69 Estes rockets at 9:32 AM at Gary Pirkle Park to commemorate the launch of Apollo 11 at the same time in 1969. Festivities included a build-your-own stomp rocket activity and a free showing of the 2019 Apollo 11 documentary in The Eagle Theatre.
Suite Spot. The Suite Spot added several new members this month. Renovation of the first-floor space is nearly complete and will allow additional office suites to be filled by entrepreneurs interested in locating their operations in Sugar Hill.
Community. The quarterly community round table was held at the end of July, bringing together leaders from Sugar Hill’s many active groups. For more information about getting connected in Sugar Hill, visit the community group page on the city’s website.
Planning for the 2019-2020 Youth Council has begun, and staff and stakeholders work to plan for various initiatives and events for the group. Applications are available online and must be submitted by the 23rd of August.
The Sugar Hill Downtown Development Authority and other community volunteers joined together for a downtown clean-up day on the 20th of July. Thanks to the large number of volunteers we were able to extend the coverage of the cleanup. The next clean-up date is scheduled for October 12th from 10:00 AM until noon.
PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
Gas Department. Utility staff have installed close to 3,400 automated meter-reading transmitters for the system since the replacement program began in late 2017. Staff also completed utility-locate services on 603 sites for the month and worked with our construction contractors in various sites around the city to protect our underground utilities. The staff has been working through regulatory compliance tasks, new service installations, and 87 other service requests to round out the workload last month.
Street & Stormwater Department. Mowing, right-of-way maintenance, and yard debris collection is in full swing nearing the mid-point of the growing season. Over ten full loads of yard debris were collected and hauled to our disposal site during the month. Staff completed sidewalk and curb repairs on Big Bend Trail and Canyon Drive in Wild Timber subdivision along with safety striping the raised crosswalk behind city hall. Our stormwater staff is working on edits and revisions to our stormwater management plan which will need to be submitted for compliance review by the state later this year. Stormwater and development inspections, leaf clearing, storm drain clearing, regular equipment maintenance, and repair continues to keep the department staff busy.
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
E Center. New South and the project management team have been coordinating in July to address the handful of outstanding items that have been hanging on since substantial completion. The focus of these have been door hardware replacement, HVAC, and electronic controls which have all posed problems in various places in the facility since last fall. New signage is being added in various locations in the facility.
Sidewalks Projects – Whitehead and Suwanee Dam Roads. The contractor is actively working on Whitehead Road installing sidewalks and drainage improvements for the segment from the new bridge and north toward downtown. As of July, sidewalks have been extended to Regency Lake Court, leaving a few gaps where drainage structures or curb modifications are required. Erosion control, demolition and grading have extended to Arbor View Drive and we are reinforcing traffic controls in each area where they are actively working.
LMIG Annual Resurfacing Program. Sunbelt Asphalt substantially completed work on the 2019 resurfacing program for the nearly 6 miles of roadway repairs. Striping and punch items are all that remain of the project scope to be completed and are being coordinated to avoid heavy traffic and weather.
Sugar Hill Greenway. We have approval from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division for the NPDES permit portion of the project and still await Georgia Department of Transportation, and Gwinnett Parks and Recreation permits and authorization to get the project to the bid phase. The remaining clearance items are, unfortunately in the hands of other agencies, like Gwinnett County Parks & Recreation (IGA), and Georgia DOT (Permit). Additional alignment and scope modifications may be required to keep the project moving on the north end (downtown) of the project as right-of-way and easement acquisition concludes.
Veterans Memorial Relocation. Construction is in full swing now with more of the concrete work completed for the upper pool. Much of the area provided for material staging and laydown is across West Broad in the vacant lot north of the project site. The Sugar Hill Business Alliance will be participating in funding the project with proceeds from their golf tournament later this month and many other interested Sugar Hill residents are reaching out to us to celebrate veterans.
2019 Bowl Improvements. The latest round of improvements to The Bowl is now ready for contract award, anticipated for this month’s Council meeting. The bid scope includes customer-focused improvements, such as lighting, sound, and visual enhancements centered on concessions space and finishes. The work will be completed after this concert season concludes.
E Center Monument Sign. The city’s sign contractor is finishing up a few minor tasks before activating the LED panels and closing out their portion of the project. We will install static panels as the tenants come online and their respective signs come out of production. The 20-foot tall sign will be at the corner of the old JW Trucks entrance and Highway 20 in anticipation of the future road connection to West Broad.
