Construction Update:
Bowl Improvements. Construction activity on the City’s concert venue continues to pick
up momentum with the better weather toward the end of February. The City has
received an unusually large volume of rain this year compared with previous months
and years, challenging progress on our small site. Our contractor, Reeves+Young, has
been able to keep the project on track and will be able to shift some of the work to avoid
conflicts as the first concert approaches at the end of May. A few finishing elements of
the splash pad will still be under construction for the Memorial Day weekend; however,
we hope to have it available by the first day of summer.
Maintenance Building at Gary Pirkle Park. Construction of this 4,000 square foot
maintenance and storage building is substantially complete as of last week. The
building will provide our staff with the efficiency to operate out of a facility very close to
the park and provide storage as we begin to add decorations and new equipment to
meet the growing demand of our downtown and recreation services.
EpiCenter. The project kick-off meeting will be held tomorrow at City Hall with the
City’s contractor and design firm to begin preparations for the conclusion of the design
process as well as to make introductions of key project staff. A groundbreaking
ceremony is being planned for mid-April and will officially kick-off the project with
some moderated pomp and circumstance on the future site of the facility.
Highway 20. Progress continues slowly on the widening project with attention now
being focused on the alternate travel lanes and remaining stages of the construction
limits. The lane shifts completed last fall have allowed CW Matthews to work on the
alternate sides of the divided highway to complete the drainage work, grading, and base
associated with that side of the project. The focus over the next six weeks will be the
segment of the project from Arbor View to Suwanee Dam along with the side road
realignments such as Henry Bailey and Old Cumming Roads. The Gwinnett portion of
the project is still on schedule to reach completion later this year.
Planning and Development:
Significant public participation and staff time was invested over the last six to eight
months as we took a comprehensive look at our demographic, economic and housing
conditions and the 2016 Housing Study is nearly complete. With the help of our
consultants Munilytics and Mellgren Planning Group, we were able to identify the issues
most relevant to our residents and develop a prioritized list of items to work on over
the next five years. The final draft includes all relevant background data, survey and
workshop results, a discussion of trends and a list of recommendations culminating in a
five year work plan to carry them out. A final public hearing will be held during the
March Council Meeting prior to final adoption.
There were 20 new home permits and 34 permits for multi-family homes issued during
the month of February. Each of the first two months of the year saw over a 300%
increase in single and multi-family permits compared to 2015. Housing permits are not
expected to continue at this pace; however, will likely increase 10%-20% over the next
year.
Several new residential subdivisions are currently under development review – The
Gates at Lanier with 33 lots and The Preserve at Addison Woods with 63 lots. Both
subdivisions are located on Suwanee Dam Road. New residential development
continues on Westbrook Road and Level Creek Road (Four new subdivisions with 170
lots). Active home building continues in Warrenton, Hadley Township and Primrose
Creek. New phases for Hadley Township and Primrose are expected soon for
development review.
This month, permits for the Reeves+Young Headquarters on Peachtree Industrial
Boulevard were issued and construction is underway. A remodel permit was issued for
the former Blockbuster Video location in the Publix Shopping Center as well. A tenant
has not yet been announced; however, the space is being prepared for use as a
restaurant. Marketplace at Sugar Hill on Suwanee Dam Road is nearing completion
which will house a Gwinnett Medical Center satellite facility and a new restaurant.
Framing inspection for the building and suite is expected shortly. LA Fitness is also
underway with a projected delivery date later this Fall. The Zaxby’s project has been
experiencing significant delays related to GDOT coordination; however, they will soon
be back up to speed. Their new projected delivery date is this May.
Parks and Recreation:
Recreation. The recreation staff has been diligently working on preparing our parks for
the warmer months ahead and the programming planned for our facilities. In addition
to field prep for baseball and softball at E.E. Robinson, the staff has been working to
clean up the common areas at Gary Pirkle Park in anticipation of the spring soccer
season. Repairs to some of the MUSCO field lighting at the park are being completed
this month as well. Several segments of wiring had sustained damage during one of the
storms.
Golf. February saw a continuation of mild temperatures and between stretches of rainy
weather, the course experienced an increase in the number of rounds for the month
over last year. The strong numbers for the month were in spite of the course being
closed for a six-day period due to freezing temperatures.
Marketing, Events and Economic Development:
Sweet Life Concert Series. Tickets are now on sale for The Mavericks concert on the
28th of May. To purchase tickets or a table, visit www.thebowlatsugarhill.com. The
remainder of the concerts will open up for sale one at a time on the first day of each
month to residents and a week later to non-residents.
Sounds of Summer Concert Series. The free Sounds of Summer Concert Series was
announced on Friday. This free concert series features Fly Betty Band, Ants Trippin’,
Joe Hall, Haley & Alexis, Red Head Diamond, and Moby Dick.
Boot Camps and cMeCompete. Scott Andrews is hosting a free boot camp on Tuesdays
and Thursdays in front of City Hall at 5:30 p.m. The boot camp is free to the public by
simply enrolling in the cMeCompete program under the City of Sugar Hill. This program
will allow you to log points when you complete exercise sessions. Join the community
and help us hold on to our title of Georgia’s Most Active City here: www.cmecompete.com/
Birthday Bash. The City of Sugar Hill will turn 77 this month! To celebrate, we are
hosting a Birthday Bash on Thursday, March 24th at 6:00 p.m. Some of our favorite food
trucks will be there and attendees will enjoy great live music on the lawn from R&B Inc.
Youth Council. The Sugar Hill Youth Council is preparing plans to give middle school
students tours of City Hall as part of the celebration for Georgia Cities Week. They are
also brainstorming new ideas to bring high school students out to Sugar Hill events. The
Youth Council is also very interested in hosting a Movie in The Bowl as one of their
events, once renovations are complete.
Social Media. The City’s Facebook following continues to grow at a steady rate.
Women’s Club. The Women’s Club held their second meeting on the 4th of March. The
group elected its board members and they are as follows:
President: Sandy Zimmerman
Vice President: Cynthia Fuguet More
Membership Coordinators: Isabella Kisson & Laxmi Hall
Recording Secretary: Karen Togel
Corresponding Secretary : Liz Bryner
Treasurer: Stephanie Febo
Suite Spot. The Suite Spot renovations are now complete on the first floor in the cowork
area. The area now features more work space, dramatically improved sound
dampening for user privacy, as well as eight dedicated work centers.
Event Calendar. – The 2016 event calendar is now complete and is in the process of
being printed. The calendar will arrive in Sugar Hill mailboxes in the near future.
Public Works and Utilities:
Gas Department. The Department is pleased to report that it recently completed a fiveyear
comprehensive Public Service Commission audit of our compliance program and
no deficiencies were found. This is quite an accomplishment in that we have just
recently transitioned to an electronic record-keeping system and the staff is still
becoming familiar with its reporting capabilities. We extend our appreciation to all of
the Gas Department staff who prepared for and participated in this successful
demonstration of our compliance program. In more routine activity, staff has
completed close to 100 new service applications, about half of which represent existing
customers and relocations. So, the city continues to grow as does our customer base in
the Gas Department.
Street Department. The department completed the month of February having prepared
for one ice storm threat and a number of rain events. The storms generated some work
later in the month with minor debris cleanup, drainage complaints, and sinkhole
questions that usually characterize these types of weather systems. The unusually
heavy storms produced over an inch each time and in combination with the saturated
soils from previous rain events, created more runoff than normal. The staff has been
gearing up for mowing as well, completing preventative maintenance on the equipment
and vehicles for the growing season.
