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The Community Development Department also conducts studies and administers special projects related to growth and land development. Various special projects the Department is currently working on are listed here. For additional information regarding Special Projects listed, please contact Jessica Tullar, Special Projects Manager or Rusty Ligon, Director of Community Development, via email or by calling (770) 531-6570.
A public investment the City is planning for the Midtown area includes the conversion of the CSX rail line into a greenway and the building of a park. A greenway in Midtown would improve the aesthetics of the area and would provide an alternative mode of transportation, recreational opportunities, and pedestrian connections to the downtown square, the Elachee trail system, and the Rock Creek Greenway. Tax Allocation Districts (TADs) are Georgia’s version of tax increment financing, which is an economic development mechanism available to local governments to finance public infrastructure improvements as a way to enable private development in a designated area. TADs serve as a powerful economic incentive to encourage development in projects that likely would not happen without the incentive. TADs, which are targeted to areas needing redevelopment, reinvest property taxes from a new development back into the project to attract redevelopment. In simple terms, the increased property taxes that would be generated by a development's improvements are temporarily used to fund those improvements. Once the improvements are paid for, a development's taxes are then distributed traditionally. Establishing a TAD involves a multi-step process: (1) local bill at legislature authorizing referendum, (2) hold referendum authorizing TAD creation, (3) pass local legislation forming TAD district, and (4) concurrence by Hall County and School Systems in TAD. A local bill authorizing a referendum was passed by the Georgia Legislature in the spring of 2005, and then, the City held the referendum in the fall of 2005. Adoption of the referendum set the stage for the City to contract with a private consulting firm in the spring of 2006 to prepare the local legislation required to establish a TAD. Work with Gainesville’s TAD special project continues. Impact fees are one-time charges to developers of new projects which help defray the costs of expanding public service facilities to accommodate new growth. Impact fees are a tool that local governments can use to supplement existing revenues, such as property taxes and local option sales tax dollars, in order to complete infrastructure improvements before new growth puts excessive strain on the existing system. By doing so, cities can protect and maintain the quality of life in the community without placing the financial burden on existing residents for network improvements to accommodate new growth. Impact fees can only be collected for a specified list of public facilities and services. As well, there are several steps a local government must take to establish an impact fee program. For a list of public facilities and services which can be funded by impact fees or to learn about the required steps for establishment, you can review the Georgia Development Impact Fee Act (GDIFA) Overview of Requirements. Through an intergovernmental agreement, the City of Gainesville collects county impact fees for libraries and the county detention center. The Impact Fees Brochure illustrates how the City is currently collecting impact fees on behalf of Hall County for libraries and the county detention center. The City has not adopted an impact fee program for City services and facilities. The City of Gainesville is exploring the concept of a City impact fee program. In the fall of 2005, the City contracted with a private consulting team to conduct its comprehensive study. An advisory committee composed of citizens representing various development interests was organized to provide feedback on planning documents and to formulate recommendations to the City Council regarding an impact fee program. As part of the study process, the consulting team prepared the amendment to the City’s Comprehensive Plan to incorporate a Capital Improvements Element (CIE) for Public Safety and Parks and Recreation. The CIE discusses existing needs and levels of service versus projected needs and service levels. The GDIFA Overview of Requirements outlines the other components of the CIE. Adoption of the amendment does NOT obligate the City to adopt impact fees. A neighborhood planning unit (NPU) is designated by city governments as a neighborhood or group of neighborhoods, whose residents have more local input on things that are or are likely to affect the area. NPUs are organized differently in each city, but generally each is headed by a volunteer group of civic leaders and acts somewhat like a larger-scale homeowners association. In late 2005, the City contracted with a private consultant to develop a framework for the establishment of a Neighborhood Planning Unit (NPU) program as an institutional mechanism for continual, detailed land use planning that will be a bottom-up planning approach. Focusing on various approaches of how to establish and maintain a NPU, the analysis addresses the overall planning and options for establishing a NPU program. More specifically, the report provides information on how to draw boundaries for neighborhoods so as to ensure a cross-section of area representation in each NPU planning process and how to “codify” the outcomes of neighborhood planning processes, suggesting such ways as land use refinement plans and design guidelines. The establishment of NPUs in the City is an on-going process that will help the City provide for a citizen-based, micro-level planning effort as a means for defining and maintaining character-type areas within geographic boundaries to shape the City as it enters a build-out phase.
A Historic Resources Structural Survey (or intensive-level survey) differs from a windshield survey in the level of effort involved with researching a community’s historic resources. A structural or intensive-level survey, which is conducted on a resource-by-resource basis, involves detailed research, thorough inspection and documentation of all historic and potentially historic properties within the City. As part of the Reconnaissance Survey effort, a multi-phase strategy for performing intensive-level structural surveys for all of Gainesville’s historic resources was created. The Historic Resources Structural Survey is a planning tool designed to better prepare staff to guide the Gainesville Historic Preservation Commission in its decision-making on requests for local designation and applications for Certificates of Appropriateness within our existing districts. Surveying of historic resources is an on-going process, but generally the surveying program is designed so that intensive-level surveying is performed every five to ten years as resources gain historical significance. During the summer of 2006, the City contracted with a private consulting firm to complete Phase I of the City-wide Historic Resources Structural Survey. And, as a Certified Local Government (CLG), Gainesville is eligible for grant funds to help defer the costs of completing surveys.
An external website for the Gainesville-Hall County Metropolitan Planning Organization (GHMPO) contains detailed information about the organization and administration of the GHMP, and discusses various projects and studies administered by the GHMPO. Also contained on the GHMPO website are the organization’s planning documents, such as the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). |
The City of Gainesville has been working since 2000 to redevelop a unique section of the city, known as Midtown. Development concepts include renovating the historic railroad depot, establishing an entertainment district, converting the CSX rail line into a greenway, installing streetscaping along key streets, providing mixed-income housing, and protecting some of the area’s valuable historic resources.
As a preliminary step in a multi-phase survey process, the City of Gainesville contracted with a private consulting firm to perform a Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey or “windshield survey” of the City’s buildings and other structures which appear to be historic or have the potential to become historic. A windshield survey literally involves driving around the community and noting the
general distribution of buildings, structures, and neighborhoods representing different architectural styles, periods, and modes of construction. The findings of a
windshield survey primarily focus on architecture
and date of construction. The purpose of a
windshield survey is to obtain an initial idea of the
City’s historic resource base and to identify
neighborhoods with concentrations of historic
resources and prominent individual landmarks.
The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1962 requires all federally assisted projects in urban areas over 50,000 population to be the product of a continual, comprehensive, and cooperative planning process. The  |
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