When the Rock-Throwers Become the Establishment

I suppose many Creekers sincerely believed the formation of a new city would cure all ills. Gone would be the days of Fulton County’s destructive decision-making, real or perceived, in our northern regions.

Crazy-making county-level decisions that prevented full build-outs of our libraries, consistent repaving of our roads, barely adequate public safety programs, and rezoning decisions that left our neighborhood leaders scratching their heads or flat out angry would be a distant memory. Our hard-earned tax dollars would have a local and more visible impact. Hooray.

But though Fulton County’s management may have been akin to Dante’s malebolge, the depths of hell, local control has its own set of issues and still seems a bit First Circle.

As it turns out, city start-ups aren’t easy. Watching a government being birthed is like watching sausage being made. It ain’t pretty, and you liked it better when you didn’t know all the ingredients.

Suddenly, the engaged and opinionated screaming from the sidelines of power find themselves the decision makers. Instead of standing on the outside throwing rocks against the walls of the Establishment, they are the Establishment, charged with carrying out the best interests of the city. In an instant they are transformed into the power brokers … and without much hands-on training.

Case in point: the Oct. 2 Johns Creek Planning Commission meeting. There is no doubt in my mind that the seven people who comprise this body, charged with making zoning recommendations to the city council, are well-intentioned. But talk about sausage making.

The commission heard a rezoning request from Richard Aaronson, president of Johns Creek Walk, located at Medlock and Bell roads.

Aaronson is arguably one of the most-forward thinking developers in the country. His projects include top-shelf live-work-play communities that embrace best uses from throughout history, including work-live apartments (you know, the old-fashioned kind where you live over your business).

Johns Creek Walk actually embraces the concept of getting people out of their cars -- think traffic reduction -- by offering retail services, such as dry-cleaning, hair salons, and restaurants that are only a short stroll from one’s home.

Aaronson’s zoning variance request was to reduce a land buffer between his community and an adjoining golf club (the club was on board with the request), and the introduction of an assisted living community and a hotel. The variance was a modification on an existing 27+ acres project.

Currently, Johns Creek has two hotels within its city limits, and the revenue generated from the taxes they pay to the city has exceeded operational expectations.

One component of Aaronson’s variance request required the commission to approve an additional 12 feet to the height of the proposed hotel, which would create an aesthetically pleasing roof above its fifth floor. The Johns Creek city planning staff recommended approval.

But instead of evaluating the pros and cons of the variance request – increasing business-paid taxes paid to the city, determining how we want our building architecture to look, consideration of where we want commercial business nodes to exist, understanding that if we want more greenspace, we have to build up, not out, or supporting builders that understand traffic congestion reduction – the commission denied the hotel height request.

The rationale? It was outside the comprehensive plan. Here’s a hint – ALL of the rezoning matters will be outside the plan, that’s why they are called variances and why there’s a need for a body to consider these requests. In addition, the comp plan is the same one Fulton County was using to reign over us.

The commission didn’t ask any questions about the hotel’s height per se. There were a few questions about which hotel chain was being considered for the property and whether or not there would be a pool or a restaurant.

And on a separate zoning matter, a commission member asked if there were any Homeland Security issues with an existing water tower on the property. How is that relevant to zoning?

Come on, people. You asked for your own governance, so let’s put some thought into our decision-making. Spend some time visiting neighboring jurisdictions to find out how they do things, if you need some help understanding the role.

Visit the properties in question and make an effort to think about the impact of your decisions 10 or 20 years out. Let’s stop harkening back to old Fulton County Plan Nine from Outer Space habits and think outside the box. And when all that fails, take the advice of the Johns Creek planning staff who possess many years of experience dealing with these matters.

I realize the commission is new and there will be a learning curve and some growing pains, but the rest of us don’t want to go back to throwing rocks at the walls of establishment.

Maybe self-governance is a little harder than it looks – especially from inside the circle.