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Evermore CID providing encouragement for Highway 78 area
By BRETT HARRELL
Director, Evermore Community Improvement District
Special to GwinnettForum

SNELLVILLE, Ga., Dec. 5, 2008 -- For the past several years, the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners, led by Chairman Charles Bannister's focus on revitalization, has provided leadership to encourage investment in older areas of the county. The Evermore CID works closely with the county as well as other local, state, and federal partners to implement this vision for a safe, vibrant corridor along U.S. Highway 78 from Stone Mountain to Snellville. The CID is actively investing in each section. As an example, Park Place is looking better than ever with a substantial transportation and economic development initiatives.

Although Georgia DOT and C.W. Matthews Contractors completed section one of the U.S. Highway 78 median and safety improvement project in July of this year, there are notable Evermore project enhancements still to come. Decorative mast arms, illuminated street signs, pedestrian lighting, sidewalks, and inter-parcel access improvements will follow road construction in sidewalk project near completion.

A strategic component of Evermore's plan for increased mobility and business access are inter-parcel access streets that connect neighboring properties. The most recently completed inter-parcel access project is a thoroughfare connecting the Home Depot and Publix retail centers near Killian Hill Road and U.S. Highway 78. Evermore CID Project Manager Larry Kaiser says that he is "exceptionally pleased that the property owners worked so diligently together to complete this important inter-parcel access project and we are looking forward to many more inter-parcel access projects and the benefits they provide to businesses and motorists throughout the Evermore community".

With several community studies completed by the Evermore CID and various professional planning firms, the Evermore CID's Board of Directors is well-equipped to pinpoint the top five catalyst sites that would benefit from revitalization.

As defined by the Park Place Activity Center Study completed last year, catalyst sites include the former Cub Foods and vacant Kroger properties as well as adjacent parcels within the Stone Mountain Square area. The Board also ranked the properties surrounding the proposed Solid Rock medical development (near the Yellow River Game Ranch) within the top five, as well as Easy Street and West Side Court properties near Highpoint Road that were defined in the LCI study completed in 2004.

Dr. Alfie Meek, director of Forecasting, Gwinnett County Economic Analysis
and Development Division, says, "Investing in the economic vitality of our community is a basic quality of life issue and it gives me great pleasure to present a 2008 Revitalization grant to the Evermore CID."

The Evermore CID will provide matching grant funds and expand on work currently underway for the business district to complete a redevelopment plan for the U.S. Highway 78 corridor. Upon approval by Gwinnett County, the Evermore CID, Bleakly Advisory Group and planning firm JJ&G will prepare detailed plans and analysis for the five target revitalization sites to attract private investment. Recently hired Economic Development Manager David Stedman will then market the sites to recruit high quality, private investment to Evermore.

Finding good barbecue turns out to be closer than imagined
By ELLIOTT BRACK
Editor and Publisher

DEC. 5, 2008 -- Finding good barbecue, to a discerning palate, is not always easy. I've not been pleased with barbecue around Gwinnett, but now have found a great place close to home.

It's up 141 at Johns Creek in Forsyth County, 0.7 miles past McGinnis Ferry Road , called Lowcountry Barbecue. Their pulled pork is the best from several angles (taste, texture, preparation, perfectly-pulled) we have run across anywhere around here. It's their second location, Lowcountry having been located in Smyrna as a catering firm for years. This is their first restaurant location. Though we had known them primarily before for catering dinners, now they have a nearby retail outlet that is superb.

(They also have other dishes, including pulled chicken barbecue, and pulled beef barbecue. What respecting Southerner would even want to try that pulled beef is beyond me. Just having it on the menu is a testament to how many Westerners have moved in. Used to be the closest you could find beef barbecue on the menu was in Memphis. To our likes, the question is "Why bother?")

Lowcountry Barbecue was the idea of Bennett Brown III some 20 years ago. Brown got a standard loan (eight per cent interest) from his father, who many will remember as Bennett Brown Jr., the head of the former C&S Bank in Atlanta, and a powerful figure in Atlanta financial circles. We wondered for years why the younger Brown would go into the catering and barbecue business, and now find it's a natural.

We learned recently at the Lowcountry Barbecue that Bennett's folks were in the barbecue business in South Carolina, originally at Kingstree, one of the centers of low-country style barbecue. (Today there is a Brown's Barbecue in Charleston, S.C., though not family related.) So you might say the Atlanta wing of the Browns is continuing in a family tradition.

We were at Lowcountry Barbecue to pick up a smoked turkey breast for Thanksgiving. (That turned out to be a good purchase, too, and the right amount.) Seeing the mouth-watering menu on the wall, and spying the pulled pork, since it was near lunch, trying out the barbecue was the decision.

My son was with me, who fancies himself as something of a cook, and who has also tried his share of barbecue, and knows good from bad pork. Both of us were immediately won over time we bit into the sandwiches.

Let me describe the sandwich: on an oversize bun to begin with, and the pulled pork isn't hidden inside the bread. Indeed, the pulled pork is sticking out all around the edge of the sandwich. They don't scrimp on you. It was at least one-third if not one half pound of barbecue.

And it comes to you right: without sauce. They expect you to take your pick of the table sauces, one based on tomato, the other on vinegar, and apply to your taste. Yet the way the pork has been cooked and pulled, you already have a terrific texture and taste. You need only to add a little sauce, and you are in a barbecue taster's heaven.

Can you tell we liked it? We grinning since we have found a good barbecue source close to Gwinnett. It's at 3445 Peachtree Parkway (Highway 141) in Forsyth County, though it carries a Suwanee address, it considers itself in Johns Creek. Phone: 678-688-7678.

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While the switch to one trash collector per neighborhood may sound like a great idea in the interest of the 'environment," lost in translation is the county's shutting down at least one perfectly well functioning and reliable business and putting over 40 people out of work because another firm got the contract out from under them.

I have had the same firm collecting my trash for over 10 years. I have never had a problem with them, and their charges are about the same as the new prices for the new firm. Now they are out of business. Allowing two trucks per neighborhood is a small price to play for the freedom that most businesses in the country have. But I guess freedom to operate a business does not matter to Gwinnett County.

This is one more freedom taken away from us and given to government.

Oh, and another thing. The county should reimburse taxpayers for the 'deactivation fee' homeowners are now being charged because the county cancelled the waste hauler's contract.

Gwinnett commissioners on Tuesday approved a contract for the first phase of a new park near Lawrenceville, Freeman's Mill Park.

A gristmill on the 12-acre site off Alcovy Road used to grind grain as recently as 1986 will be raised some five feet to get it above the current regulated flood plain. Construction will include a new foundation and retaining wall, refurbishing the water wheel and windows, and adding a new roof, siding and doors. The $434,324 contract was awarded to Hogan Construction Group LLC.

Community Services Director Phil Hoskins says: "It is a superb example of a typical rural gristmill found along rivers throughout Georgia in the mid-19th century."

The mill was built on the Alcovy River between 1868 and 1879 by brothers John Griffin and Levi J. Loveless and was one of 1,262 water-powered mills in the state at the time. By 1996, it was said to be one of only 15 mills in the state in working order and the only one in Gwinnett County. At that time it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places for its significance in architecture, engineering, industry and social history.

After the Loveless brothers ran the mill, W. Scott Freeman and his son, Winfield, owned it until it was purchased in 1915 by Newt Pharr, who owned five other mills in the county. Newt's great grandson, Lewis Swann, purchased the mill in 1946 and it remained in his family until the County bought the mill and surrounding property in 2001.

Phase Two of Freeman's Mill Park will be awarded by a separate contract early next year. It will feature a playground, picnic pavilion, half-mile multi-purpose trail, parking and restroom facilities. Funding for both phases comes from the 2005 SPLOST. The County bought the land and mill in 2001 through the Georgia Greenspace program.

The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation will spotlight the frontier Fort Daniel site on December 8 at 7 p. m. The event will be held in Fort Daniel Elementary School. The school is in the shadow of the old fort site.

Built in the late 18th century, the archaeological site of Fort Daniel was once a frontier fort located at Hog Mountain in Gwinnett County. Archaeological excavations are being supervised by the Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society. Excavations revealed a stockade wall trench, a hearth where cooking and casting of shot was carried out, brick and burned lumber and a trash pit.

Artifacts recovered from the site include historic pottery, black bottle glass, musket balls, musket flint, wrought nails and an 18th-century Spanish coin. The site is located on privately owned property. The property and its surrounding lots are for sale. A developer has already sought a zoning change to allow commercial development of the properties. Development of the property would destroy this significant archaeological site. The Georgia Trust along with the Friends of Fort Daniel will present information about protecting and preserving Fort Daniel.

You can learn more about the archaeological remains of this late 18th century frontier fort and find out how you can help save it. For more information, contact Jordan Poole at 706-506-9864 or jpoole@georgiatrust.org.

The Greater Gwinnett Group of the Sierra Club will have its annual celebration of the holidays with a potluck dinner. It will be held this year on December 11 at 6:30 p.m. at Art Sheldon's home, 3036 Oak Hampton Court, Duluth.

This is located off Georgia Highway120 approximately 1.5 miles west of I-85. Call Art for directions if needed at 678-793-2300 or at a.sheldon@charter.net. Bring a dish to share.

The proposed operating budget for Gwinnett County for 2009 of $919 million is up 6.3 percent over 2008 and would add 125 new positions, down from 128 last year. The increase in cost is primarily due to the new positions, which are designated to staff new facilities and maintain law and order.

Chairman Charles Bannister sent it this week to the board of commissioners.

Fire and Emergency Services is slated to get 75 new positions to staff two new fire stations (Numbers 29 and 30), a new ladder truck and a medic unit. Police would add 30 new positions, including one for the Emergency 911 call center. Parks and Recreation would get two new positions for the maintenance of three new park sites scheduled to open during 2009 --- Settles Bridge Park, the Isaac Adair House and Freeman's Mill Park.

The proposed capital budget of $503.1 compares to a 2008 reconciled budget of $774.2 million, a 35 percent decrease. Projects include replacement of the HVAC system in the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, computer upgrades, completion of the Yellow River Sewage Treatment Plant upgrade, and continuing the extension of Sugarloaf Parkway. The long-range plan for 2010-2014 calls for spending of $1.47 billion.

The proposed budget does not currently include any results from an internal cost analysis (termed the SVR project) being performed by the County Administrator. The results of this analysis are in the final stages of review and will be discussed with the Board in the upcoming weeks. Chairman Bannister noted that "the initial outcome from SVR included the decommissioning of a wastewater facility and the restructuring in Planning and Development. While some aspects will be painful, this is something we need to do for addressing the budget gap and setting the long term fiscal well-being of this government."

County Administrator Jock Connell, who worked alongside Chairman Bannister and two citizen representatives, Wayne Sikes and Sam Brownlee, in supervising the development of the budget, explained that "We intend to bring the SVR results and the proposed budget forward on parallel tracks. These two major initiatives need to be viewed together. Once we have the Board's direction on both, we will combine these into the 2009 financial plan for county government."

The budget will be presented at a public hearing on Dec. 11 at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center at 7 p.m. and is slated for adoption by the Board on Jan. 6, 2009.

A successful pioneer in the automobile industry, Howard Coffin rebuilt an abandoned antebellum mansion on Sapelo Island and revitalized the agricultural potential on it, developed St. Simons Island and Sea Island as Georgia's premier coastal tourist destinations, and provided seed money for the mighty pulpwood industry that continues to thrive in the state's Coastal Plain.

Born in 1873, Howard Earle Coffin grew up on an Ohio farm and in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he studied engineering at the University of Michigan. It was there that he constructed his first automobile. It was steam-powered, and he used it to deliver the mail around town. He also made use of the university's engineering shop in 1898-99 to build his first internal combustion engine. In 1902 the Oldsmobile Company hired him as chief experimental engineer. By 1905 Coffin was Oldsmobile's chief engineer. Later he worked for the E. R. Thomas-Detroit Motor Car Company, the Chalmers-Detroit Motor Company, and the Hudson Motor Car Company, serving as vice president and chief engineer of each and designing many of their early models.

Coffin is known in automotive circles as the father of Standardization, a result of his initiative in standardizing material and design specifications and in arranging for automobile manufacturers to share their patents. These accomplishments enabled the American automobile industry to grow quickly.

Coffin led the 1916 preparedness campaign for World War I, including an inventory of the nation's industrial capacity, something that had never been attempted before. When the United States entered the war, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson named Coffin to the Council of National Defense, which served as the country's unofficial war cabinet. Coffin's job was aircraft production. Through his leadership the U.S. Army Air Service ultimately became a significant arm of the military. He also led in building the revolutionary Liberty airplane engine.

After the war Coffin helped launch the nation's commercial aviation program. He helped found and served as board chairman of the National Air Transport Company, a forerunner of United Airlines. In 1925 he served on the Morrow Board, which President Calvin Coolidge named to investigate and make recommendations regarding the federal government's role in air safety and in creating an air defense system. The board's recommendations established the principle of federal regulation of civilian flying, a vital step toward a federal air law.

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