Pedestrian Community Requested Along Ga. 400

By DAVID PENDERED www.ajc.com

Land along both sides of a portion of Ga. 400 in North Fulton should develop into a community where people can walk easily among office buildings, shops and homes, according to a group of civic leaders who met Wednesday night.

The group's recommendations generally match those of property owners who met in January. The owners, working through the North Fulton Community Improvement District, have hired an urban planner to devise guidelines for future growth in the area from Holcomb Bridge to McGinnis Ferry Road.

Both groups favor future developments that provide for a mixture of homes, shops and offices to be built close to each other, according to Eric Bosman, an urban planner with Urban Collage, who is overseeing the planning effort.
The emerging preference for development with a mixture of uses represents a dramatic shift for North Fulton.

The region is typified by projects that put some distance among office parks, shopping centers and homes. This development pattern relies on lots of car trips because people don't find it easy or safe to walk from one project to another. The pattern is becoming difficult to sustain as traffic congestion worsens and the price of fuel rises, according to another urban planner, Andres Duany, who spoke in Atlanta last month.

Bosman said the civic leaders who attended Wednesday's meeting expressed their preferences clearly.
"They want a very walkable, mixed use community," Bosman said. "They want a high degree of character and quality."

The development plan, called Blueprint North Fulton, is a project of the North Fulton Community Improvement District. The guidelines will not mandate the type of developments. But they are expected to influence the shape of overall growth as it's considered by the city councils of Milton, Johns Creek and Alpharetta.

The CID is a group of property owners who pay additional taxes to improve the area. The CID's past projects include helping to pay for a bridge on Westside Parkway and intersection improvements near Encore Park.

Bosman said the next steps include more meetings with CID members and city officials from Milton, Johns Creek and Alpharetta. The general public will be brought back into the planning process this summer, to discuss and refine potential recommendations. The final guidelines are to be completed late this summer, Bosman said.