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October 2, 2014 | northfulton.com | 73,500 circulation Revue & News, Johns Creek Herald, Milton Herald & Forsyth Herald combined | 50¢ | Volume 18, No. 39
Billboards headed Johns Creek’s way By HATCHER HURD hatcher@northfulton.com
Hatcher Hurd/Staff
This billboard at State Bridge Road and Kimball Bridge Road could be joined by 31 more signs in Johns Creek.
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – Johns Creek residents have been calling City Hall about a huge LED-lit billboard at the Kimball Bridge Road and State Bridge Road intersection, asking why such a thing could be allowed to happen. That billboard – which is actually in Alpharetta – is only the tip of the iceberg. That sign was permitted by court order and there are more to come. Johns Creek could have as many as 31 more LED billboards that have court-ordered permits within the Johns Creek city limits. They are all due to a lawsuit lost years ago by Fulton County before Johns Creek was a city. Johns Creek City Manager Warren Hutmacher said there will be nowhere near 31 billboards permitted in the city. There simply is not the space on the specific locations. Just how many and where have not been decided yet. “Originally there were three sign companies all asking for permits. Some would have been back to back on the sites. So we are in discussions with the
company to find a reasonable number,” Hutmacher said. Realistically, there are physical limitations where the signs can go. Hutmacher said he thinks no more than half the number permitted will be built. The sign company Action Outdoor Advertising has bought out the competing two companies. “This all occurred long before there was a city of Johns Creek,” said Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker. “There are discussions that are ongoing.” The good news is that the number of signs in North Fulton was negotiated to a total of 34 signs. The State Bridge Road billboard is one of those. Another one is in Milton, and the third is in Alpharetta on South Main Street near the Roswell city limits. The bad news is there are 31 more signs permitted in what is now Johns Creek. Confusing? It is a legal tangle that began long before there were any “new” cities in North Fulton. The 75 billboard permits were requested in 2002, and denied by
See BILLBOARDS, Page 5
Eaves to residents: ‘We can do better’ Roswell town hall meeting gives residents chance to air grievances By HATCHER HURD hatcher@northfulton.com ROSWELL, Ga. – Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves brought Sept. 23 many of his department heads to the Roswell Branch Library to listen to residents and tell them what the county could do.
“We are here to get the pulse of the city,” Eaves told a full house at Roswell Library’s meeting room. “We will seat a new Board of Commissioners with some new faces,” he said. “I think we can find some common ground and do a better job.” North Fulton Commissioner
Liz Hausmann and North Fulton Commissioner-elect Bob Ellis were listening, but did not speak. Eaves opened the meeting by touching on some issues including the Fulton County tax increase. A judge has said the county can proceed with the tax notices containing the 17 percent millage increase, but has not yet ruled if it is indeed constitutional. Recently, the Republicancontrolled Fulton County leg-
islative delegation announced it is considering doubling the homestead exemption to $60,000. “That would be problematical,” Eaves said. “Such a move would place more of the property tax burden on North Fulton because it would take almost all of the South Fulton residences off the tax roll. That just produces more inequity in the tax rolls.
See EAVES, Page 8
HATCHER HURD/Staff
Fulton County Chairman John Eaves makes a point answering a resident’s question at the town hall meeting he conducted at Roswell Library.