CLARKSVILLE, Ga. — A couple miles off U.S. Route 23 in the foothills of the Appalachians, the Dunwoody City Council met with departments heads March 12-13 for the city’s annual retreat.
The Glen-Ella Springs Inn & Restaurant in Clarksville at the end of gravel road served as the setting for a review of Dunwoody’s commercial properties, parks, budget trends and property taxes.
The City Council also discussed the failure of the bond referendum in November, a possible removal of the city’s millage cap and some priorities for capital improvement projects.
Jock Connell, a former city administrator in Gwinnett and Hall counties, opened the meeting with an exercise for each councilmember, asking them to state one goal for Dunwoody in the next ten years.
The answers varied with objectives like clarifying the City Council’s vision for staff, moving forward and continuously improving, developing a long-term strategy and honing the city’s operational model.
“What do you want this place to look like, and how do we get there?” Connell said.
Before the retreat moved into its first presentation, Connell asked councilmembers to provide a barrier to their 2034 goal.
Some obstacles to the city’s growth, councilmembers said, include transportation surrounding commercial corridors, housing availability for young people, community resistance at the polls, work-from-home policies, fiscal policy and managing the city’s identity.
“Everything boils down to quality of life for our existing residents,” Councilman Tom Lambert said. “If we are looking to attract new business and people to the community, it’s quality of life.”
City officials will need to find balance between maintaining Dunwoody’s small-town feel in a city with Perimeter Center, one of Metro Atlanta’s largest business districts, Mayor Lynn Deutsch said.
City’s…
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