Press Clips

Norcross braces for changes

Gwinnett Daily Post - Saturday, January 15, 2005
(Reprinted by permission from the Gwinnett Daily Post)

By Carole Townsend
Staff Correspondent

NORCROSS - Downtown Norcross, a 4.2-square-mile area known for its charming, quaint ambience and historic structures, will change drastically over the next 12 months if all goes according to plan.

But the changes have some wondering: At what expense does growth come? How can a city preserve its character and develop simultaneously? The Norcross Planning and Zoning Board was presented with a proposed preservation ordinance Dec. 16, in which it promised a "resolution of support." The Historic Preservation Committee hopes to have the preservation ordinance in place before the high-density growth begins.

The ordinance, penned by the Norcross Design Committee, provides "a policy for preservation of contributing era-defining historic properties" in the city, said Anne Webb, chairman of the Historic Preservation Committee. "It also encourages the education of citizens as to the value of preservation and assists citizens with rehabilitating historic properties and creating new properties in harmony with the town's character.

"There are two schools of thought here in Norcross. Some feel that the immediate influx of maximum density projects will support our downtown (businesses). Others feel that planned and controlled growth are important. Where will we be in 10 years? Twenty?"

Under the city's Design Concept District zoning provision, developers have already received approval to build several high-density neighborhoods, a new civic and cultural center and The Plaza, a mixed-use retail and residential area much like the one in Duluth.

"DCD zoning eliminates zoning controls, basically. It allows for saturated building," said Paul Sumner, who recently resigned as a member of the Planning and Zoning Board. Developer Robert Forro has been chosen for The Plaza project, although he has no previous experience developing such town center projects.

The concept of a town center, or plaza in this case, is to develop a community in which people live, work and play. Ideally, one could walk to work, to dinner or to a youth ball game from home.

"Of the 230 new homeowners who will be brought into Norcross as a result of the new developments already OK'd by City Council, we can expect 460 additional cars (figuring two per household). Are all of these people going to work in the restaurants and antique shops downtown? Could they afford a home anywhere from $160,000 to $300,000-plus if they did? Of course not. These people will commute to and from work outside Norcross," Sumner said. "Traffic and parking, as always, are big issues being overlooked."

Right in the path of the planned plaza are two homes on Cemetery and College streets, both of which the National Registry of Historic Places has cataloged as having historic significance.

"Why can't we restore and preserve these homes and sites within our city rather than destroy them in the name of progress?" Webb asked.

"Norcross began its renaissance in the '80s. Other cities have had to build a core. We already have one rich in history, and we have a responsibility to set the preservation standard."

The livable centers initiative study the city commissioned in 2001 calls for the relocation of historic homes whenever possible.

The price of progress

Another concern Webb and Sumner raised is whether the city's infrastructure can support all this new growth. When the sewer system was installed in the 1970s, planners were already anticipating improvements to it in 28 to 30 years, Webb said.

Sumner said that "any corporation planning such vast expansion would be required to do impact studies, but the city of Norcross is simply approving every development that comes before the council with no regard for long-term impact."

The city's Planning and Zoning Board contends that the sewer system can support all the development planned in the next few years. Lisa Cox, a member of the Norcross Design Committee and an advocate for planned growth, said, "There is no look to the future. Short-term profit is the only goal now."

Norcross once had a preservation ordinance on the books. It was rescinded in the late '80s out of fear that property owners would not be able to do as they wished with their land.

"It was right after the ordinance was rescinded that we got the Hometown Inn and the All Around Motel, both of which are blights on the community," Webb said.

"My problem with the (downtown development authority) is that it has no clear guidelines to enforce any restrictions on developers," Sumner said. "Right now, all the DDA can do is make sure a building's aesthetics are appropriate. "Two developers came in here and stripped every tree off a piece of land to build a Waffle House. The city allowed that; it's awful. Our tree ordinance allows a tiny sapling to be planted and account for 40 feet of canopy. Sure it will (grow) - eventually, but in the meantime we are losing our tree canopy."

"We're not against development. We know it's going to come, and it's a good thing. This is a great city. But we need to look to the future and think about what we're doing now," Cox said.