Brian Vanderhoff's North Fulton Real Estate Blog

Crabapple Government Center, 12624 Broadwell Road, Alpharetta, GA

Alpharetta City Hall
Monday, February 11, 2013 7:00 PM

Wednesday, February 20, 2013 7:00 PM

ALPHARETTA IS LISTENING - TELL US YOUR IDEAS FOR IMPROVING RUCKER ROAD

The City of Alpharetta is hosting a series of meetings for citizens who live in neighborhoods along Rucker Road for the purpose of learning:
• How you think Rucker Road can be improved
• What changes you would like to see along the roadway
• How you want Rucker Road to look and feel
• What pedestrian or bicycle improvements you may want on Rucker Road
• What concerns you may have
• In what ways you do not want the road to change

WHAT THIS IS: These sessions are designed for you to share your ideas and concerns and for us to listen. Because you live along Rucker Road, you have a vested interest in how the road functions and what it looks like, and you probably have some very good ideas that the City of Alpharetta would like to incorporate into the future design of Rucker Road.

WHAT THIS IS NOT: These meetings will not be filled with presentations by engineers or City representatives telling you what will be done to Rucker Road. In fact, except for asking questions, our staff will do very little talking.
MEETING SCHEDULE: Three sessions will be held for the purpose of hearing what you have to say, so you have multiple opportunities to participate.

Monday, February 11
Alpharetta City Hall
2 South Main Street
7:00 PM
Wednesday, February 20
Crabapple Government Center
12624 Broadwell Road
7:00 PM
Tuesday, February 26
Alpharetta City Hall
7:00 PM
 

Based upon the comments collected during these sessions, our engineers will create a design for the future of Rucker Road that will be presented to the community in March. The time and date of that meeting will be set once the design work is completed, but we will let you know as soon as it has been set.

Whether you join us for one session or choose to attend all three, please do not miss this opportunity to share your thoughts, ideas and concerns as the future of the Rucker Road Corridor is planned. You have a vested interested, don’t you want to be part of creating the solution?

Labels: Alpharetta, alpharetta city hall, Alpharetta Events, rucker road

Possible 5 seats up for grabs on council, Sunday alcohol, $29M city hall bond too


by Hatcher Hurd
write the author

July 20, 2011
ALPHARETTA, GA. – If Councilman Doug DeRito does indeed run for mayor in November (he says he hasn't quite decided), then the special election for his seat will be Nov. 8 with the other four council seats up for election.

With the first reading at the July 18 City Council meeting for the ordinance for the Nov. 8 council elections of posts 4, 5 and 6 – held by incumbents Cheryl Oakes, Jim Paine and D.C. Aiken respectively – a second was added at the request of Councilman Doug DeRito.

DeRito put his own Post 1 up for possible election should he qualify for the mayoral race. But DeRito left the door open to change his mind. He said he would not make his formal announcement until closer to qualifying time.

Qualifying is the term for formally tendering one's name for election to the post during the three-day qualifying period – Aug. 29, 30 and 31 – and paying the qualifying fee. According to City Attorney Sam Thomas, should DeRito qualify, by law his seat as a councilman would immediately be vacated.

By introducing this ordinance calling for a Nov. 8 special election for his seat concurrent with the General Election, DeRito said he was preventing a special election the following March. Not only would his seat be open for seven months, the city would be liable for the cost of the special election – estimated at between $50,000 and $100,000 that the city would have to pay Fulton County for conducting it.

If DeRito opts not to run for mayor, he would keep his seat and the special election ordinance for Post 1 would be rendered void since there would be no empty seat.

Councilmen Aiken and Chris Owens expressed concerns that introducing the ordinance with the intention only that DeRito may run for mayor, introduces a certain amount of doubt for prospective candidates for his council seat.

"How will anyone know if the post is really available? " asked Aiken.

Owens posed the opposite side of the dilemma. If anyone qualified for the seat and DeRito did nothing, they would have no seat for which to run and would be out the $450 qualifying fee for a council seat (it is $9000 mayoral qualifying fee).

That means there could be as many as five new faces on the council come Nov. 9.

Mayor Arthur Letchas has reached the end of his term limits for mayor and is retiring. Paine, who is serving the unexpired term of David Belle Isle, will have that term expire at the same time as that of mayor, i.e. Dec. 31.

For that reason, Paine will not have to resign his post to run for mayor and so will remain on council at least through December. Meanwhile, David Belle Isle, who resigned that post to run unsuccessfully for state senator, has announced he will also run for mayor.

"Is there any assurance the seat will be open," Owens asked.

Thomas said there are no guarantees (that DeRito will ultimately resign his post by qualifying) and that potential Post 1 candidates would file at their own risk.

DeRito spoke up to say that he only wants to prevent a costly March special election.

"However, I would not be doing this if I did not have a strong interest [in running for mayor.] My intent is to run for mayor. I am committed to making a firm announcement two weeks before [qualifying]," DeRito said. "I am not announcing now because I am not yet sure I want to do it. I want to make sure I have the full support of my family first."

After the meeting, he said he has a son studying in Oxford, England, and is waiting for him to come home and participate in the decision. He said the rest of his family are behind his running for mayor, DeRito said.

"I am not the kind of guy to get ahead of the curve," he said.

Labels: Alpharetta, alpharetta city hall, alpharetta community center, City Council, City Council Meeting

The core of Alpharetta is scheduled to have to a facelift, but before work begins, residents and business-owners will be allowed a peek at what the final result could be.

The latest update to the $67 million project will be unveiled Thursday at 7 p.m. at Alpharetta City Hall. Similar presentations and opportunities for public reaction are set periodically through the end of March.

Planners say the latest version of the City Center could include a public library in the 9-acre project around City Hall downtown. The plans call for a 5-plus acre park, a town green, 100,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and office space, a new 50,000-square-foot City Hall, and a 400-space parking garage.

About $25 million would from general obligation bonds with the remainder would come from private development and the county library system.

Before 1993, downtown had flooding problems, few sidewalks, and no lighting.

Since then, the city has invested in parking lots, a pocket park, a detention pond for the flooding, buried utility lines and added lighting, and sidewalks.

City officials want to partner with a private firm to revitalize downtown. The city has had a couple of partnerships that have collapsed, but on April 7, the city selected Solomon Holdings as its new associate.

Other dates for reviewing the new plans are:

Monday, March 9

Thursday, March 26

Monday, March 30

Labels: Alpharetta, alpharetta city hall, city center, sneak peak