JANUARY 2020. VOL. 14 — NO. 1
Section Two
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P13
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City to pay $1.2M for temporary
fire station site while building a new one
SPECIAL
A rendering of the new fire station to replace the one at 135 Johnson Ferry Road.
North End brainstorming
begins amid questions
BY HANNAH GRECO
hannah@reportemewspapers.net
Two years after setting North End rede
velopment as a priority, the city government
is heading into 2020 with a $300,000 order
for conceptual designs and talk of a “Revital
ization Zone” whose purpose is unclear.
It remains to be seen whether 2020 will
be the year that the brainstorming plays
out as a redevelopment plan - and whether
the city will play a financial role, as officials
have long said it likely will. Meanwhile, an
advocacy group is keeping the pressure on
for any redevelopment to preserve afford
able housing.
At a Dec. 3 meeting, the City Council
awarded a $307,260 contract to architect
firm TSW for the designs of four shopping
centers in the North End to push for the re
development of the area.
At the meeting, Mayor Rusty Paul made
it a point to clarify that the designs will not
be set in stone and the four projected sites
are not necessarily the ones to be developed.
See NORTH on page 22
BY HANNAH GRECO
hannah@reporternewspapers.net
The city will pay $1.2 million for a va
cant rental-car business on Roswell Road as
a temporary site for a Johnson Ferry Road
fire station that will be demolished and re
placed.
Fire Station Two at 135 Johnson Ferry is
50 years old and needs to be replaced, the
city said. The temporary site, a former En
terprise car rental lot at 6189 Roswell Road
at the Mount Vernon Highway intersec
tion, is riddled with complexities for get
ting fire trucks in and out of traffic. The
proposed solution depends on the outcome
of a lawsuit regarding the city’s attempt to
evict three billboards from a lot across the
street. Some council members are also con
cerned with the cost of the temporary sta
tion.
The city hopes to open the temporary
station by March 2020 and to complete the
replacement by spring 2021. The city has
requested a demolition permit for the cur
rent station, but first the temporary site
and its issues have to be resolved.
At a Dec. 17 meeting, the council agreed
to purchase the 0.317 acre lot at 6189 Ro
swell Road from Enterprise Leasing Com
pany of Georgia, LLC., for $1.2 million. City
Attorney Dan Lee said the city is not only
buying the property for a temporary fire
station, but also for a pending reconstruc
tion of the Mount Vernon/Johnson Ferry
intersection.
That controversial road project is wait
ing on the architect firm to deliver two
designs, one with the controversial cut-
through road that would need the taking
of a home, and one without. It is unknown
to the city when the property could become
available and when the connector road
could be built.
In addition to the purchase price, it will
See CITY on page 23
DON’T SETTLE FOR
year
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