Kathy & Ben
The Milton Herald recently published 2011 plans according to several local leaders. Milton Mayor Joe Lockwood posted an overview of several city plans on the Milton City website. Two areas of his open letter were of particular interest as they will greatly impact the “look” of Milton and the city’s identity going forward.
The first area discussed is the announcement of a design meeting for the revisiting and possible revision of the Crabapple Master Plan for Milton. Milton’s City Council recently approved a contract to allow well-known local architect Lew Oliver to head an initial design meeting for public input and commentary. The purpose of this meeting is to develop a concept for a Milton City Center going forward.
Also mentioned by Mayor Lockwood in Milton’s plans for 2011 is a possible purchase of land on Hwy 9 (see map below, just south of ‘Cue, a GREAT Bar-B-Que restaurant) for a public safety complex, which would house the city’s police and fire departments. Lockwood also indicated that the city might also add a road on this property to alleviate some traffic from the new high school under construction on Bethany Bend and Cogburn Road. Not mentioned by Lockwood in his plans was the recent joint application by Milton and Alpharetta for a LCI grant to make Highway 9 more pedestrian friendly.
As a long-time Milton resident, I certainly love the area and believe that it is one of the best suburbs of Metro Atlanta. However, that said, it is frustrating that Milton does not have a town center “identity”- perhaps these initiatives will start to rectify that deficiency.