Health & Wellness Sponsored section ►►PAGE 20
Mazel tov!
Butterflies, brews and flicks
City locks up jail deal
Johns Creek signs new contract with Lumpkin Co. ►►PAGE 5
Jewish men traditionally celebrate bar mitzvah at age 13, but at 88? ►►PAGES 12 - 13
North Fulton hosted numerous festivals ►►PAGE 6
June 11, 2015 | johnscreekherald.com | 75,000 circulation Revue & News, Johns Creek Herald, Milton Herald & Forsyth Herald combined | 50¢ | Volume 19, No. 24
City moves to create Morton pocket park $640K cost half of appraised price By HATCHER HURD hatcher@appenmediagroup.com
HATCHER HURD/STAFF
Food trucks make N. Fulton a picnic Johns Creek Advantage Executive Director Bethany Lavigno finds all play and no work not such a bad job at JCA-sponsored Food
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – The city took steps at the June 1 City Council meeting to add a pocket park to its recreation inventory in one of several areas identified as underserved. The Johns Creek City Council has tentatively agreed to buy 4.5 acres on Morton Road for use as an active pocket park. The price, $640,000, is well under the city’s commercial appraisal of $1.29 million. Most of the property, 3.9 acres, is owned by Georgia Power Corp., which Johns Creek had explored as a lease option, but Georgia Power’s conditions for such a lease were unacceptable to the city. For one thing, it precluded any active recreation uses, which is why the city wanted it in the
first place. It would be virtually unusable except as a passive park. Now Georgia Power has offered to sell the acreage for $640,000. The city’s appraisal of the nearly 4 acres came in at $915,000. The city expects to exercise an option to buy an additional 1.02 acres from a private owner for $330,000. It was appraised at $375,000. City Manager Warren Hutmacher said it was his recommendation to buy the property now while it is available at a good price. “The idea would be to create a neighborhood park. There are several subdivisions that are underserved in the area. Georgia Power has offered to sell the property to us with only the stipulation that we
See PARK, Page 5
Truck Friday. Johns Creek Editor Hatcher Hurd talks about the food truck phenomenon, Page 8.
Police seek cop impersonator Alpharetta girl targeted May 31 By JONATHAN COPSEY jonathan@appenmediagroup.com ALPHARETTA, Ga. – On May 31 around 10 p.m., a young woman contacted Alpharetta police, saying she was
stopped by a man impersonating a police officer. A few days earlier on May 23, a Gainesville woman reported a similar incident. In Alpharetta, the 16-yearold victim stated she was driv-
ing her vehicle on Old Milton Parkway and then turned right onto Kimball Bridge Road. While traveling on Kimball Bridge Road, the victim said a tan-colored sedan pulled behind her vehicle and acti-
See POLICE, Page 14
This map shows the location of a planned pocket park on Morton Road. It will be programmed as part of the city’s recreation and parks master plan, which is under review.
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