There is a town hall meeting about a tax district and a big road project coming in Fayetteville on Oct. 4.
Presentations at the meeting will include a look at the redevelopment initiative on the November ballot and an update on the large Hood Avenue/Ga. Highway 92 realignment project. The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall and will include an open forum for topics citizens would like to discuss.
The prepared topics include a presentation on the Redevelopment Authority Powers referendum that will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Director of Community Development Brian Wismer said the goal is to inform voters what the referendum means and how it could be used in the city to encourage redevelopment of older commercial centers.
The town hall meeting will also include a discussion on the progress of the Hood Ave/Hwy. 92 street alignment project and anticipated timelines for construction. And finally, the meeting will conclude with any topics citizens would like to address, Wismer said. The regular meeting of the Fayetteville City Council will follow at 7 p.m.
The Redevelopment Authority Powers referendum deals with redevelopment projects going under the name TAD (Tax Allocation District). It was no surprise that the initiative failed four years ago since the word “tax” was included on the ballot. The wording gave the impression that it would be a tax that applied across the city. The reality, in the case of Fayetteville, is that it pertains only to specific parcels identified as benefitting from redevelopment.
By way of example, one of the parcels identified then and now is the 692 Shopping Center on North Glynn Street, former home of the Longbranch Restaurant and other businesses.
Situated on 3.9 acres with a building totaling 41,975 square feet, the parcel sold in 2001 for $1.8 million. In 2006 the fair market value had dropped to $1.747 million. In 2007 and continuing through 2011 the fair market value was $1.308 million. Now largely unoccupied, current fair market today has decreased to $1.166 million.
Also at the meeting, residents will hear an update on the expansive Hood Avenue/Hwy. 92 realignment project that will link Ga. Highway 92 and Hood Avenue on the west to Kathi Avenue and North Jeff Davis Drive to the east.
The project carries an estimated price tag of $9.1 million, with $7.8 million coming from previously collected local 1-cent sales tax revenues.
The project is designed to help ease the flow of traffic through the downtown area a few blocks away and provide a simplified routing of traffic in and around the immediate downtown area. That will be accomplished by a host of traffic measures on either side of North Glynn Street.
For more information on the town hall meeting contact City Hall or visit the Fayetteville website at www.fayetteville-ga.gov.
