Peachtree Corners Future Mayor Speaks at PDC Meeting

Editor's note: This article was written by a Norcross Patch writer. Peachtree Corners' future mayor had been invited by the Norcross group to speak at their weekly meeting.

Mike Mason, the unopposed mayoral candidate for Peachtree Corners, was the guest speaker at Wednesday's Progressional Development Committee meeting.

As the mayor of Gwinnett's 16th city, which will be official in July, Mason introduced himself, answered questions from Norcross community members and stated what his next plans are.

"I'm no politician," said Mason, a CPA. He was president of the United Peachtree Corners Civic Association and a major frontrunner for making Peachtree Corners a city.

For his plans, Mason said the first step is to set up code enforcement and waste pickup since everything else will be taken care of the county. The second step, he continued, would be to establish a zoning and land-use plan.

"When you look at the Peachtree Corners community, it's something that's essential," Mason said. For example, he explained, someone was telling him how the Atlanta Regional Commission predicts the population for Peachtree Corners will expand from its current 38,000 to 58,000 people. The first thing that popped in his head was organization, he said, so he's thinking of where new housing could be.

A city police force isn't immediately a part of Peachtree Corners' plans, he said, but he half-joked that Peachtree Corners needed a coffee shop to stimulate a cumlination of ideas and get people talking, similar to the PDC meetings at .

Mason added that he has no idea where the city hall will be built, but confirmed that the idea of a $20 million city hall across from was a rumor.

Mason also mentioned the , saying that there are some people still wanting to sue the area. 

"To me, you don't really get anywhere getting into fights with your neighbors," he said.

He also assured how ridiculous it was that Peachtree Corners became a city just to separate itself from Norcross.

"It's not about Norcross," he said. "That may be a desirable outcome, to stop annexation attempts. But is that the right reason? The right reason is self-determination."

Mason, who was at the Norcross' State of the City address, observed that there was a clear connection between the citizens and the city of Norcross, and he hopes for the same in Peachtree Corners.

"We want to be good neighbors. Peachtree Corners are our neighbors, and we want to look at ways that we can do things collaboratively, and we can do things effeciently, too," said Mayor Bucky Johnson during the meeting. "By connecting the dots here, we may be able to do things that are better for all of the citizens in the community."