PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Six detached single-family home permits were issued in October with an average square footage of 2,844. Fourteen attached single-family home permits were issued with an average square footage of 2,429. Pulte Homes has begun permitting new homes in the Northmark subdivision on Buford Highway near Woodward Mill Road.
A new commercial building permit was issued for a 3,000 square foot building at 740 North Price Road. Several Certificates of Occupancy were issued at Broadstone as they near completion on the project.
PARKS AND RECREATION
Parks. Gary Pirkle Park was closed for ten days due to severe flooding from two Tropical Storms during the month of October (Delta AND Zeta). Staff worked diligently to clean and clear all storm damage and to open portions of the park once it was safe for guests. Damage to synthetic turf, safety netting, and bridges are being scheduled for repairs once claims are settled with our property insurance provider.
Downtown and City Hall. Weekly maintenance was completed throughout the downtown area as the community geared-up for activities this fall. Limbs and debris from the tropical storms were cleaned and cleared around the downtown campus. The Veterans Memorial water feature was drained, cleaned, and refilled in preparation for the upcoming Veterans Day ceremony.
E Center. Gym memberships are on the rise with 11,524 members taking advantage of the recreation opportunities offered. Regular cleaning continues daily throughout the entire facility. Limited classes and programs continue along with private rentals for meetings and events. The flooring project wrapped up in the building with the E Center logo installed on the floor of the main lobby.
Golf. October resulted in another successful month at the course due to unseasonably warm weather. The course continues to follow the national trend of golf doing well in various markets. Several irrigation repairs were completed throughout the course. The Sugar Hill Golf Association’s Annual Tournament was held this past weekend. For more information on the course or membership, contact a representative from the Golf Course at 770-271-0519.
EVENTS
The events season picked up in October as 20 mini events were held downtown. The line-up included live outdoor music events, movies in The Bowl, caricature artists, trivia, and other entertaining outdoor activities for guests to enjoy. One of the postponed events was rescheduled to the 7th of November. The Andrews Brothers Dueling Pianos was held in The Bowl on Saturday. AJ, the caricature artist, will be at the E Center every Tuesday in November. Live music and movies in The Bowl will also continue and will be offered the first three Fridays of the month. The movie line-up began with Coco on November 6th followed by Nightmare Before Christmas on November 13th and Ice Age on November 20th.
Other upcoming events include the Veterans Day ceremony on November 11th followed by the official opening of the Ice Rink on Thursday, the 12th and ending with a private 5K event and rentals at The Bowl and Eagle on the 14th and 21st of the month. Staff is also working to coordinate “Giving is Sweet”, a program created to begin on the 16th of the month to collect donations specifically for Lanier and North Gwinnett cluster schools and the North Gwinnett Co-Op. Items include school supplies, food, cleaning products and more. The Eagle Theatre and many of the Downtown Sugar Hill businesses will serve as drop-off locations through the holidays.
The Youth Ambassadors have been working with the Events team on coordinating a virtual Turkey Trot 5K event the week of Thanksgiving so please look for more information on that collaborative event next week. Staff will also continue to work with the Economic Development team in their downtown initiatives with event programming.
Installation of upgraded sound, lighting and sightline equipment will begin in The Eagle Theatre beginning in December. Staff attended the Players Guild annual meeting on November 2nd and discussed plans for their 2021-2022 season. They postponed all shows planned for 2020 to 2021 and have changed their calendar year to January through December. Their first show will be Blithe Spirit in February.
For more information on 2020 and 2021 events, please visit www.thebowlatsugarhill.com and www.eagleatsugarhill.com
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT/COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
Georgia Main Street Program. Staff is working collaboratively with the Downtown Development Authority to plan for 2021 and recertification through the Georgia Main Street Program. A virtual public input session was held Monday night. The session generating a long list of good strategies to enhance the downtown area. Any additional comments can be emailed to Mercy Montgomery at mmontgomery@cityofsugarhill.com.
Downtown Event. A successful Trick or Treat on West Broad Street was hosted on the 30th of October in concert with live music at the E Center and a movie in The Bowl. Guests, ghouls, and goblins visited various downtown businesses to trick or treat and enjoy a beautiful fall evening in downtown Sugar Hill.
Ducks for Education Fundraiser. The fundraiser continues through the 1st of December. City of Sugar Hill has partnered with the Gwinnett Tech Foundation and Quantum Bank to raise funds for the Parker Killian GIVES Moore Scholarship. The scholarship supports up to 5 veterinary technician students with their books and class fees. To raise the funds, we will be selling Sugar Hill branded rubber ducks for $3.00 at our online merchandise store. Quantum Bank will be matching $1.00 of every duck sold to help us reach our fundraising goal. Also available online will be an option to donate a sum larger than the $3.00 duck purchase. 100% of the proceeds and donations will go to the scholarship foundation.
PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
Gas Department. The total number of transmitters installed on our automated metering system is 5,462 addresses moving us to the halfway mark. Our utility locating staff completed services on 525 sites for the month 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 95 other service requests to round out the workload last month.
Street & Stormwater Department. Warm and wet fall weather has stalled out the normal dormancy we experience late into October and the right-of-way maintenance team is having to continue the aggressive mowing operations. Two significant storm events during the month has occupied the balance of the time with tree and debris removal extending the full length of the month. The team also mobilized equipment operators, trucks, and support to the storm cleanup at the park. In addition, the yard debris team delivered five loads of mulch, four loads of rock, and collected 109 truckloads of bagged clippings for the month. This generated eleven (11) loads of debris to the disposal site. Stormwater staff continued their proactive inspection program, drain clearing, and regulatory compliance efforts (training) along with a considerable number of calls and questions after the two large storms.
CONSTRUCTION UPDATES
Peachtree Industrial Greenway Trail Project. The retaining wall is complete on Peachtree Industrial at the entrance to Shiv Mandir along with nearly all of the remaining trail work on this segment. Guardrail work was gearing up for installation in November as the calendar turned and the contract converged on substantial completion.
Whitehead Road Greenway Trail Segment. Ohmshiv Construction is substantially complete with the segment having finished the slope grading and drainage structure installation.
Sugar Hill (Main) Greenway Trail. Construction is underway focusing on the Level Creek Road end of the job at its intersection with Church Street to and through EE Robinson North park. The contractor expects to then concentrate on the off-road segments near Gwinnett Church after the first of the year. Submittals, RFI’s, orders are still a significant portion of the progress report for October.
Gary Pirkle Park Field Improvements. Construction of the new fields continued between cleanup effort and drying out periods as a result of the two tropical storms. Grading and drainage continued into October, albeit slowly. Advanced Sports Group, the city’s general contractor is expecting to conclude the project near the end of January with final completion expected later in the first quarter of next year. The work and progress to date is being coordinated with the various user groups, leagues, and programs in the park.
Art/History Room Buildout – Broadstone Project. Stonepoint, our general contractor from Sugar Hill, is pushing toward the halfway point of the project having completed most of the framing, drywall, and HVAC work in the two spaces. City staff is currently providing input on the signage and finish elements as we move into the home stretch on the project.
Sweet City/22-Acre Passive Park Project. Our design team is on the front end of the design of the first phase of improvements at the park whose preliminary scope is set to include a parking lot, pavilion, pond repairs, walking paths, and restroom building.
