Community Corner

City Council Recap: Lionheart, Kudzu to Officially Keep Art Spaces; City Events Policy Tabled

Two new officers also were sworn into the Norcross Police Department.

The Norcross City Council meeting on Monday (July 1) had a number of items discussed. 

-After causing public outcry when the city announced that the art spaces for Lionheart Theatre Co. and Kudzu Art Zone were in an open bid process in March, the city and the businesses have finally come to an agreement to allow the two art centers to keep operating at their locations on College Street and Carlyle Street. The Kudzu agreement passed on the consent agenda, and the Lionheart agreement passed 5-0, too, after some minor adjustments were made. 

-The 2014 SPLOST Percentage Allocation item also passed unanimously. As a three-year SPLOST, the breakdown for the way the city would be spending the funds is as follows:

  • 60 percent for transportation
  • 15 percent for parking
  • 7.5 percent for recreation
  • 17.5 percent for administrative building
Recreation and administrative building had been 12.5 percent each before the city council meeting, but Mayor Bucky Johnson suggested the change because the city wishes to relocate the Norcross Library near Lillian Webb Park and move the Norcross Police Department to the library's current location off Buford Highway. 

-The agenda items concerning the portable restrooms and hotel/motel fund both were tabled to the July policy work session. The city council explained that the hotel/motel fund had started out just concerning the city's proposed events policy, but now the fund has moved beyond just events and the city will probably be looking at the entire fund. The policy is proposing that the city no longer fund events of up to $3,000 if they've been receiving the funds for three years. 

The council also wants to discuss the purchase of portable restrooms further. The bathrooms, which look like a trailer with stalls and offer a "much better experience" than a Porta Potty, according to Councilman Keith Shewbert, would be used for large city events. 

-Mayor Johnson swore in two new officers for the Norcross Police Department: Marques J. Sawyer and Isidro Yanez-Rodriguez, who are both bilingual in Spanish. Sawyer has been in the force for six years and was last with Gwinnett County Police and Yanez-Rodriguez was with the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office and is a former marine. 

-Lastly, the stream buffer variance application was approved so that a new home could be built at 202 Lake Drive. The committee overlooking the agenda had suggested denial for the project due to the size of the buffer, but after some discussion to change the driveway and install a runoff water retention system to better accomodate it, the measure was approved 3-2. 

Councilman Craig Newton and Mayor Pro Tem Andrew Hixson opposed the approval since residents had spoken against it at the June policy work session. The councilmen explained that with the new plan and changes, the item should be tabled to the July Policy Work Session so that those residents could speak about the issue again. 

Don’t miss any Norcross news. Subscribe to Norcross Patch’s free newsletterlike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here