Sponsored Sections Real Estate Report ►►PAGE 20 Summer Camps ►►PAGE 22
Six String concert
Grammy winner Ed Gerhard performs ►►PAGE 15
Knights make playoff run St. Francis boys make finals, girls semifinals ►►PAGES 27 – 28
March 5, 2015 | johnscreekherald.com | 75,000 circulation Revue & News, Johns Creek Herald, Milton Herald & Forsyth Herald combined | 50¢ | Volume 18, No. 10
Sewer moratorium looming for N.Fulton? By HATCHER HURD hatcher@appenmediagroup.com
County in hot water over water rates
Ron Green has an offer for Fulton County he says will solve its problems with EPD noncompliance and provide a way to keep Fulton out of a sewer moratorium. Read more, Page 7. HATCHER HURD/STAFF
NORTH FULTON, Ga. – While North Fulton is in the midst of its largest development boom since the 2008 recession, some people are starting to take a hard look at whether there will be enough sewage capacity to keep the boom going in the future. It is a looming crisis of the county’s own making. The Big Creek Water Reclamation Facility in Roswell hit a monthly average of 92 percent of capacity in April 2014, which was a wakeup call. The plant has a permit to treat 24 million gallons per day (mgd). Should it surpass that capacity for two or more months, the state Environmental Protection Division could and probably would enforce a moratorium on new sewer taps in North Fulton. That is exactly what the county allowed to happen in
2000. For several years prior to the moratorium, Fulton dragged its heels to bring more capacity online. It is a long bureaucratic process, and it was years until the county could get more sewer capacity online. If it happens again, it would be equally disastrous for the North Fulton economy. “It would halt all growth and expansion,” said Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce President Brandon Beach. “You could forget about new development. Government has two chief duties in helping the economy – to provide public safety and to provide infrastructure – that’s roads, water and sewer.” Beach said there is no immediate threat now, but it is a cause for worry for the not-too-distant future. Had Fulton County been following its 2009 expansion
See SEWER, Page 7
JC aims at radio tower deal with Forsyth County would allow site in exchange for right to co-locate on tower By KATHLEEN STURGEON & HATCHER HURD hatcher@appenmediagroup.com FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Johns Creek looked not only outside the box but outside the county to find a solution for where to put its public safety radio tower – in Forsyth County. While negotiations are still ongoing, Mayor Mike Bodker said he is optimistic the details can be ironed out in the
next few days. Last summer, Johns Creek had determined it would need to erect a 200-foot radio communications tower in Shakerag on city-owned property next to Fire Station 62. Residents were not BODKER happy with the idea, saying such an eyesore would affect
their property values and create visual pollution in the rural area. The City Council agreed to hold off while it searched for another solution. With the deal struck with the county – the Forsyth Commission approved in principal the intergovernmental agreement Feb. 23 – Johns Creek will build on a site that already has two towers. It will also secure an easement to serve the tower as well. In exchange, the city would al-
low Forsyth to co-locate a 200-pound tornado/weather warning siren and a receiver for the Forsyth public safety radio net. However, Forsyth also wants all revenues to come to it if any private communications company locates on the tower. That is a sticking point with Johns Creek. Forsyth also wants to tie the city to cooperation on the widening of McGinnis Ferry Road. Bodker said the City Council wants
See TOWER, Page 5
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