New Role for PCBC

This site is managed by the Peachtree Corners Ballot Committee.  Now that Peachtree Corners is a city, our role is changing.  We have a new mission and a new focus.  


You can visit us at our new home: www.peachtreecornersfacts.com  where we will continue to  research and write on the facts of government in Peachtree Corners.


We envision Peachtree Corners as a place where family, community, and business are at the center of life.  Family and community are the purview of individuals.  Business is the economic and creative engine.  Government plays almost no role.  The challenge is that it is the natural tendency of government to grow.


It is the mission of the Peachtree Corners Ballot Committee to support this vision of Peachtree Corners and meet the governmental challenge head-on.  We seek to contain government greed and ensure that the new government in Peachtree Corners is something truly unique among all governments – forever unobtrusive and inexpensive.


Contact Us at: info@peachtreecornersfacts.com

Thank You

Thank you to those that read the charter and learned about the structure and rules governing the new city of Peachtree Corners.  It was a close race, much closer than most predicted.  The No-side garnered 44% of the vote.


The challenge going forward will be to bring the disparate communities that now live under the Peachtree Corners moniker together as a single city.  Whoever becomes the new mayor and city council will need to be cognizant that there is a large population that is skeptical of the value of having a city.   To have a truly vibrant and cohesive community, the new leaders will need to work to bring that value without the usual costs, bureaucracy, and other trappings of government many are so disenfranchised with.  


We wish the community and its future leaders the best in tackling that challenge and making Peachtree Corners a truly different and successful form of government for all the people it serves.


Posted By: Ali

Vote No City - A Cartoon Retrospective

Here are a few cartoons I illustrated.  They depict various components of the City Charter 
and/or news stories about the proposed city.   Posted by: Ali                                                           

Death by 1000 Permits

Cartoon by Ali

Fines and Permit costs will be set by the “revenue-determined” city council and the departments and authorities they appoint.  This “power” and many others are granted the new city government in the Charter.  Here are a few examples of how John’s Creek is using the power of permits to generate revenue:

John’s Creek, GA - John’s Creek requires a permit when - "Any owner, authorized agent, or contractor who desires to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, or change the occupancy of a building or structure, or to erect, install, enlarge, alter, repair, remove, convert, or replace any electrical, gas, mechanical, or plumbing system, the installation of which is regulated by the construction codes, or to cause any such work to be done, shall first make application to the Building Official and obtain the required permit for the work. A permit shall not be issued to an owner, who is neither a licensed contractor nor the occupant of a residential structure being altered."—City Code, Chapter 105-52****

What does this mean? Want to have a plumber install a new water heater or toilets in your house? Get a permit. Want to change your fireplace to gas logs? Get a permit. Want to make some roofing repairs? Get a permit. Want to change your electric cook top to a gas unit? Get a permit. Technically, if you bought a new water saving shower head at Home Depot and wanted to install it yourself in your shower, you would need to get a permit and hire a plumber.  So here is how permit-happy cities are fleecing their residents:

In John’s Creek, a family wanted to enhance their backyard with a gazebo, fire pit, and seating. The permit was $750, while the entire cost of the project was less than $900. A permit is needed if your neighborhood wants to put up a graduation sign for congratulating their children.

In Dunwoody, hot water tanks have to be permitted along with heating and A/C unit replacements. Want to have a garage sale with your neighbor?  You will need a permit.

Jack Fox of Peachtree Station says, ”You are so right in advising people to find out what happened in Johns Creek. We owned a second home there when it became a city. Suddenly, you had to get city permits for everything from re-roofing your own roof to putting up "graduation signs" in your yard.  The city found more ways to raise money with ridiculous permits than you can imagine.  It made our selling that home very difficult.” 

In unincorporated Gwinnett County (what Peachtree Corners is today), you do not need a permit for any of the above examples.

Code Enforcement Fines and Permit costs are a way for a city to generate income and control you through restrictive codes and permits.  You will have less “self determination” about things you might wish to do with your home or business.  The new city government will “self determine” for you.  None of these permits and fees will require a referendum for approval.  It’s in the Charter now.  Consider this when you vote on November 8^th.

Posted By: Louie and Mitch

Three Horrors of Code Enforcement

Cartoon by: Ali

One of the 3 proposed services for a City of Peachtree Corners is “Code Enforcement”. What is a “service” in the eyes of UPCCA can quickly become a “horror” for the city’s resident.  Here are a few examples:

The Horror:  Enforcements officers span out across the city - Code enforcement companies are contracted with the city.  These officers are encouraged by a compensation structure that contains incentives and is commission based.  The more tickets, they write, the more money they make.  Therefore, they will be out to fine, ticket and enforce violations that most of us will not realize we are committing, until it’s too late.  

The Horror : Your yard is not your own - Do you have a dead tree in your yard? It’s a code violation.  The charter will make us responsible for sidewalk repair in front of our homes; we could be fined if they are not maintained.  You have an unapproved graduation sign in your yard – fine for you.  You leave your trash can out a little too long? It’ll cost you.  In Roswell a new resident was fined $15.00 because their trash container was out front, and it wasn’t collection day. 

The Horror: Your time is not your own - You spend your weekend on garage sale without a permit? Hope you sold enough to pay the fine.  

Fines and Permit costs will be set by the “revenue-determined” city council and the departments and authorities they appoint.  This “power” and many others are granted the new city government in the Charter.  Please read it and be informed.

Posted By: Louie

What You Will See on Tuesday - Sample Ballot

There are two items on the Ballot on November 8th.  First, the SPLOST.  This is a one penny sales tax to support Gwinnett County Schools.  The other is the incorporation of Peachtree Corners as a city.  Here is what the ballot is expected to look like.

Government Closest to the People

The mantra from the Peachtree Corners City proponents is “Government Closest to the People is Best”.  This sounds good on the surface, but the opposite is actually true.  The closer we are, the less we need government at all.  As Thomas Paine argues in “Common Sense”, government is only needed when the community is so large that we can no longer get together neighbor to neighbor and business to business to solve our problems.  Our world today is rich with technologies that help us communicate and thus shrink our community.  Common sense says why go to the expense and bureaucratic inefficiency of establishing a government close to home?  

The Peachtree Corners Ballot Committee believes that:

• The best government is one that does only what people cannot do for themselves and governs the least.
• Government is best when it is large enough to do the job with economies of scale and yet close enough to listen to the needs of the people.

Clearly, with today’s means of transportation and high-tech communications, access to those in government by the governed is real time.  Distance has no impact.  

Government needs to be large enough to provide economies of scale.  Otherwise its costs are higher than the benefit they can provide.  Government becomes a liability and a nuisance to the community, crowding out the private sector, the real engine driving prosperity.  Peachtree Corners City is too small and its focus to narrow to matter.  It only offers power to a few and more trouble than it’s worth to everyone else.  

In the immortal words of Thomas Paine, “Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil”  

Peachtree Corners is a blessing because we are free of excessive government.  Vote No on November 8^th and keep it that way.

Posted By: Jose

Peachtree Corners in the Transition Phase

Gwinnett’s largest city, there will be a “transition” phase.   Section 8.11 of the Charter discusses this phase and what powers and authorities the transition group will have during this period.  Beginning on page 32, it reads:

During the transition period, the governing authority of the City of Peachtree Corners:

(1) Shall hold regular meetings and may hold special meetings as provided in this charter;

(2) May enact ordinances and resolutions as provided in this charter;

(3) May amend this charter by home rule action as provided by general law;

(4) May accept gifts and grants;

(5) May borrow money and incur indebtedness to the extent authorized by this charter and general law;

(6) May levy and collect an ad valorem tax for calendar years 2012 and 2013;

(7) May establish a fiscal year and budget;

(8) May create, alter, or abolish departments, boards, offices, commissions, and agencies of the city; appoint and remove officers and employees; and exercise all necessary or appropriate personnel and management functions; and

(9) May generally exercise any power granted by this charter or general law, except to the extent that a power is specifically and integrally related to the provision of a governmental service, function, or responsibility not yet provided or carried out by the city.

We are particularly alarmed by items 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 in this list because it provides a means for the transitional group to change the charter, incur debt, and set up all sorts of departments, commissions, etc. that the City will be forced to honor and fund through more taxes, permits fees, and the like.  All the while, they may accept gifts and grants for their favor to whomever is providing said gifts.  Some of those gifts and favors may already be flowing.  "Endorse the city Mr. Businessman or Mr. Politicians and I will ensure you get..."

Please read the Charter before you vote.  You are not voting on or for the people currently supporting cityhood and their pretty postcards.  You are voting on this document.  It and the politicians using it are what will ultimately rule us.   

Posted by: Ali

Self-Determination Zoning Gone Amuck

The AJC's Patrick Fox wrote an article titled "Zoning Change Rankles Johns Creek Neighborhood"  in the Friday edition of the AJC:

Close to 200 Johns Creek residents turned out recently in opposition to a zoning request to allow a 268-unit apartment complex in the city's Technology Park area.

J.C. Flex won unanimous approval to build the complex on a 24-acre site between Lakefield Drive and Technology Circle. That was after residents from two nearby subdivisions flooded City Council members with emails opposing the request. 

They left disappointed. Click to Read More

Peachtree Corners - The Friends and Family Plan

Section 3.11 of the Charter (page 16) allows for the city council to create jobs for their friends and family at will.  No referendum is needed to establish boards, commissions, and other authorities.  The Mayor will appoint the personnel.  The charter is designed for cronyism at its best.  Here is section 3.11:

(a) The city council shall create by ordinance such boards, commissions, and authorities to fulfill any investigative, quasi-judicial, or quasi-legislative function the city council deems necessary and shall by ordinance establish the composition, period of existence, duties, and powers thereof.

(b)   All members of boards, commissions, and authorities of the city shall be appointed by the mayor and council for such terms of office and in such manner as shall be provided by ordinance, except where other appointing authority, terms of office, or manner of appointment is prescribed by this charter or by law.

(c) The city council by ordinance may provide for the compensation and reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses of the members of any board, commission, or authority.

The Yes-side really does not want you to read the charter.  The pretty postcards present the story as they want you to believe it.  The Voter That Knows Votes NO!  Please read the Charter and vote on November 8^th. 

Posted By: Ali

Letter to My Neighbors

To my friends,family,neighbors, and the many customers that I have in Peachtree Corners,

On November 8, there will be a special election in which our friends and neighbors will vote on whether or not there will be a City of Peachtree Corners. I urge you all to read the Charter and to vote NO on your ballots November 8.

After reading through it myself, I realized that while I would be allowed to live(26 years so far) in the new city of Peachtree Corners, my business would not be welcomed here! The words “regulate or PROHIBIT” mean no more Goodwill, no sales of alcoholic beverages, no use of firearms (wow!), and even regulating lights and heating (we get to live in the dark and freeze?) (Section1.12(25)).

And gee, I thought this city would just barely increase our taxes: there are other sections of this charter that give the city the right to tax on many levels. Do we really need bigger government and more liberties taken away? What are we lacking from the county's services? Oh, and let's not forget Code Enforcement. Just one more way to tax. Tickets issued, municipal court dates and fines handed out by a municipal judge to be paid by the new citizens of Peachtree Corners. Hope I don't forget to bring my trash can in from the curb!

Some may say we must do this to protect us from being annexed into another city and not be in control of ourselves. If I am not mistaken, would we not have to vote to approve any annexation ourselves? If I am wrong, please let me know.  I would like to end with a quote from a neighbor:

"I don’t know if this language is “standard” in city charters--- but I do not like it.  I am tired of government telling me what I can and cannot see and do.  And some of my friends are pawn brokers. I guess this would allow them to close the Goodwill Store.  Lots of junk in there."

Please read the Charter for yourselves, and please vote NO on November 8.

Guest Poster: Ben Levinson

Letter to Tom Rice

Tom, your e-mail address is the only one that I have for the Vote Yes side of the Peachtree Corners City ballot.  First let me say that I am opposed to making Peachtree Corners a city and I intend to vote against it next week.

I have been around a good while and was converted to a conservative point of view during the Jimmy Carter presidency.  I am against more "government", increased government spending and increased taxes.

I consider most of the many words in the Vote Yes publications to be essentially meaningless.  I think that should this proposal be implemented the citizens of Peachtree Corners will be ill served by the skeleton city government that is to be set up.   I am not politically astute enough to know of the few individuals that expect to personally benefit from the proposal but I firmly believe there are a few.

A proposal of this type would be expected to come from the liberals in DC and not from the conservatives of Gwinnett County Georgia.  Today I find that Lynette Howard, Fran Miller and Mary K Murphy have joined you in supporting the Vote Yes position.  Shame on all of you!

Guest Poster: Fred Croney

Yes is Not a Plan

A local blogger recently posted a column titled, “NO is not a plan”.  The unfortunate reality for him and other supporters of cityhood is that YES is not a plan.  

Over the last few months that column's author and others have waxed poetic about the possible positive effects of incorporation.  But none of it actually constitutes a plan. They started out telling us there would be a 1 mil tax increase.  When that didn’t go over well with the populace, they changed to telling us there might be a tax increase up to 1 mil.  And most recently that has changed to there might not be a tax increase at all, we can probably fund the city on franchise fees alone. Doesn’t sound like much of a plan to me. 

The reality is that their ‘plan’ is the charter which lays the framework for a full fledged city. When people run for mayor and council positions, they will present their ‘plans’ (hopefully within the confines of the charter) but the city itself will already be a fait accompli. That’s not a plan, that’s a hope. 

By contrast, a vote NO carries some known outcomes.  If you vote NO there will be no mayor and no councilpersons who can raise your taxes, up to 1 mil or any other amount.  If you vote NO there will be no mayor and no councilpersons who can collect, spend or raise the franchise fees you pay on your utilities.  If you vote NO there will be no city manager collecting a six figure salary.  If you vote NO there will be no contract code enforcement officers riding around looking for stuff to fine people over and no municipal court to enforce their citations. 

If you vote NO, after the election we can focus this re-invigorated community spirit on our county leadership and work to get them doing what we elected them for, instead of trying to replace them at a city level.  Like it or not Peachtree Corners is part of Gwinnett County and part of the metro Atlanta area, and it will continue to prosper in that context if it doesn’t isolate itself by becoming a city. For more on a vision for Peachtree Corners I invite all to read today’s Gwinnett Forum.

Posted By: Bob

Who will be in the New City?

The Proposed City encompasses a lot more land area and neighborhoods than most people realize.  These Neighborhoods and areas will be part of the City of Peachtree Corners should the referendum pass next week: 

The proposed city encompasses all the neighborhoods that are members of the United Peachtree Corners Civic Association and vast area beyond that.  Those areas have had little or no communication that they are about to be ensnared by this new city.  Mechanicsville, Lynwood Forest, area of Winters Chapel are all going to be gobbled up to support the new city and the UPCCA elites who wish to control their destiny. 

Please review the city MAP and check your address.  If you are in, read the Charter and know what you are going to pay for.  Then Vote on November 8!

Santa Endorses New City of Peachtree Corners

Posted By: Ali