Permits/Inspections. During the month of May, sixteen (16) single family home permits were issued. The permits were issued in the Northmark and Carlton North subdivisions on Buford Highway and included one 3,045 square foot single family detached home and fifteen (15) single family attached homes with an average size of 2,227 square feet.
PUBLIC SAFETY
The Marshal’s Office continues to meet with other local law enforcement offices to build working relationships and obtain information on various resources. This will assist with future training and initiatives for all department staff. During this past month, Deputy Chief Smith and Marshal Collazo attended Special Event Risk Management in Gainesville and Marshals McElroy and Kongthoth attended gang-related training in Norcross. All Marshals passed the state firearms qualification course. Staff from the office assisted with various events to include Splash Night, the Memorial Day Ceremony, and the ribbon-cutting event for the Greenway. Paradigm Security Services continues patrols for Sugar Hill through the late evening and overnight hours.
PARKS AND RECREATION
Parks. GA Force held their spring football camp at Gary Pirkle Park and Atlanta United is holding a summer soccer camp there as well. Both i9 Sports and All-In Futbol club (AIFC) completed their spring season, finishing with their largest group to date. Installation of new wayfinding signage is underway. The Community Garden now has 105 plots for the 2022 season and gardeners held a spring workday to prepare the plots for the growing season. The garden pavilion is under construction with an expected completion in late July.
Downtown and City Hall. Weekly maintenance and landscaping were performed at city hall and throughout the downtown area with fresh mulch being added to the tree wells and landscape beds.
Splash Park. The park is now open and has been a popular venue between the hot temperatures and students being out of school for the summer. The hours of operation are from 10:00 AM – 9:00 PM daily (weather permitting). The first Splash Night event of the season was held on May 27th and was a huge success.
E Center. Gym memberships have now surpassed 16,403. New fitness equipment was added to the gym to replace a few worn and broken parts. An inspection was performed on the gym bleachers to ensure they are in good condition. The Waterfall Room and classrooms now have rentals during every week and weekend through the end of the year.
Golf. May was another busy month at the course between very favorable weather and several tournaments. The new driving range continues to be a very popular spot to practice your swing. For the upcoming month, the Club Championship Tournament will be held June 18th and 19th. For more information on becoming a SHGA member or course information, contact our pro shop staff at the Golf Course by calling 770-271-0519.
COMMUNITY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Events. In May, we hosted over 30 events in our various venues including a Memorial Day Ceremony and Market, Splash Night, Sugar Hill Live and the first Movie Under the Stars event of the season just to name a few. The City’s merchandise fundraiser raised over $1,500 for The Children of Fallen Patriots. The Mavericks performed at The Bowl on Friday evening to kick off the first Sugar Hill Live On Stage concert of the season. On the Stage Children’s Theatre is producing the shows Pirates Past Noon and Seussical in The Eagle Theatre for their summer camp events. The next Movie Under the Stars event will feature Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark on June 24th at 7:00 PM while the next concert in the Sugar Hill Live On Stage series will be Michael Franti & Spearhead scheduled for August 27th. The doors will open at 7:00 PM.
Community. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held on June 1st to celebrate the completion of the first 3 miles of the Greenway. That portion is now open to the public and is already being enjoyed by many walkers and runners. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our e-blasts for all the details.
PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
Gas Department. We are holding at 7,892 transmitters installed in our system to date. Our utility locating staff completed services on 753 sites up 160 from April 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 41 other service requests to round out the workload last month.
Street & Stormwater Department. Yard debris operations delivered 12 loads of mulch and had 130 truckloads of bagged clippings collected. This resulted in 17 loads of debris to the disposal site. The stormwater staff has been busy preparing and submitting the annual report to Georgia EPD as a part of our regulatory compliance program. The right-of-way maintenance crews continued working to keep our roads free of tall grasses and litter for the month, giving rise to compliments from GDOT and neighboring communities. Some of our street department staff is also working on site and building construction of the pavilion at the Community Garden.
CONSTRUCTION UPDATES
Sugar Hill Greenway Trail. The city’s design and project management team were on-hand to help celebrate the opening of the latest segment of the greenway trail connecting Peachtree Industrial Boulevard with Level Creek Road. This segment adds a mile of completed trail to the inventory and connects the downtown area across from city hall with two existing parks, numerous neighborhoods, churches, and stops along the way. The next long-awaited segment is in the natural area west of Markim Forest and extends all the way to Whitehead Road. This is the focus of significant bridge and boardwalk construction hampered by the economic stresses of the current construction market. It is anticipated that this segment will open to traffic this summer, but is dependent on weather, supply-chain delays, and conflicting sewer construction in the area. Nevertheless, a great 5-mile trail awaits our community later this summer.
Project Highlights
- The trail was envisioned in 2014, with the first trail segment completed in 2018 along Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.
- The greenway is comprised of 11.5- linear miles of greenspace and will be connected by nearly 16 miles of walking and biking trail sewing together key destinations/nodes in the city.
- The trail will be 10 to 12 feet in width and be paved with concrete along roadways and asphalt in natural areas.
- The first phase connects downtown with (3) three parks and (2) trail head parking lots clockwise from downtown to Gwinnett Church and westward to Whitehead Road.
- The entire trail is expected to cost about $17 – $20 million by the time future phases are constructed.
- Most of the first phase is constructed with SPLOST funds.
The contract for signage on the trail has been awarded and design is in production now. The Friends of the Greenway are assisting with selections and are very excited to be involved with the project. It will consist of pylon signs, maps, mileage markers and location information signs. Some solar lighting will be incorporated at strategic intersections.
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 city. A pedestrian crossing signal has been installed on Level Creek Road near the back entrance to Gwinnett Church where the trail will cross (just south/west of Markim Forest subdivision). The signal, at the entrance to the city’s newest park, Gold Mine Park, will be activated once the trail is closer to completion and the county approves the signal installation.
Greenway Trail at Whitehead Road underpass / Bethany Church Trailhead
Gold Mine Park. Tri Scapes is continuing work and making significant progress on the small (2.4 acre with 7 acres of greenspace), but important park. Site utilities and infrastructure have been underway for much of the spring throughout the park with the final paving, landscaping and finishes remaining. The park will have some 50 parking spaces, a restroom, bicycle racks, and information about the cultural and historical significance of the area.
E Center Event Space. The city’s contractor on the E Center Event Space & Conference Room, Barnsley Construction has installed most of the exterior features and made great progress on the interior. Glass is being installed along with lighting, plumbing and many of the finishes. Floors, woodwork and cabinets will be the next items to be installed. Signage design is underway and will help make this a truly unique space in our community. The space will consist of two areas that can be used for classes, meetings, or events. These areas can be rented by public or private parties. The contractor is working diligently to deliver a completed project by the middle of July 2022.
Interior finishes, lighting, ceiling grid and ductwork for the conference room
An exterior balcony will be part of the finished space
Community Garden Improvements. City staff is working to construct the new pavilion proposed for the garden.
The pavilion at the Community Garden will be just east of the barn
CUSTOMER SERVICE
In the month of May, 112 new gas service applications and 117 disconnects were processed. A total of 27 new AMR’s (Automatic Meter Readers) were installed. There were 11,880 active accounts billed in the month of May. A total of 10 new businesses applied for their business license. Passport totals reached 137 with 108 photos processed this past month.
