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