Business Leaders Speak Out On City Issues

The city of Peachtree Corners has over 2,000 businesses located within its borders and last week owners and operators had the chance to weigh in on what they thought should be included in the city's long-range plans.

City leaders embarked on a comprehensive plan in early February and had asked residents to look ahead to the next two decades to what they thought would be needed to serve the community.

And last week the Peachtree Corners Business Association (PCBA) hosted an event along with Pond & Company, the engineering firm retained to help with the plan, to gather input from local business owners and operators.

Nearly 70 members of the business community attended the event which was held at the Peachtree Corners Baptist Church.

So what's missing, what needs improvement? Business leaders had plenty of ideas when Pond and Co.'s Michelle Alexander threw out the question.

• Provide adequate parking and ensure traffic patterns allow customers easy access to businesses.
• Improve the Holcomb Bridge Road area.
• Add high-end office space for small business owners which will provide stability so small business owners won't have to relocate out of the city.
• Renovate or redevelop older Technology Park office buildings.
• Build smaller office space in the 5,000-10,000 square foot range.
• City government needs to focus on redevelopment as a whole.
• Consider schools when planning to maintain excellence.

Those were just some of the remarks made during the meeting. City leaders will need to plan for the business community's needs as well an expected increase of 4,000 - 11,000 people over the next 25 years.

One attendee put it in a nutshell. "We need forward thinkers, who will concentrate on growth and business development recruitment," said John Clancey, a retired Marine Corporal.

Alexander said that statistics show that households with families are dropping and that there is inadequate housing for the millennials, those in the 20-30 year old age bracket who are not necessarily ready to buy a home but want a quality place to live.

"We need to give people a compelling reason to move here," said Scott Hilton, UPCCA's president. "We need to differentiate ourselves from others by adding walking and biking pathways, an art center, live theater, a farmers market. These are big ideas but we've got 20 years to implement them."

There are two upcoming Comprehensive Plan meeting, these are "Character Area Visioning Workshops."

• April 23 from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Winters Chapel United Methodist Church
• April 24 from 7-8:30 p.m. at Norcross High School

A few facts about Peachtree Corners businesses:

• Peachtree Corners has a jobs-housing balance of 2.96 (there are 2.96 jobs for every household).
• Ten percent of working residents have a job in Peachtree Corners.
• Unemployment rate in Peachtree Corners is estimated at 9.1 percent

The top 10 largest employers in Peachtree Corners (one location)

1. Jacobs Engineering Group, 475
2. Pediatric Services-America, Inc, 400
3. Mizuno USA, Inc. 200
4. Pond & Company, 200
5. Mighty Distributing System, 150
6. CareerBuilder, LLC, 150
7. PRIMEDIA Inc. 150
8. Custard Insurance Adjusters, 150
9. Prosys Information Systems Inc, 150
10. Benchmark Brands, 150

For questions contact Michelle Alexander, Pond & Company at alexanderm@pondco.com or Diana Wheeler, the city's Community Development Director at 678-691-1200 or by email, dwheeler@peachtreecornersga.org

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