SaveGwinnett.com

If you are a homeowners association, community activism organization or activist in Gwinnett County, SaveGwinnett.com will host a web site for you for free! A SaveGwinnett site is perfect for organizing the neighborhood in response to a pending rezoning or to advocate your position on an important local issue.

Contact us at support@savegwinnett.com to request your free web site.

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There is plenty of blame to go around for Gwinnett County’s current financial crisis. You can begin with Wayne Hill and the pro-growth Commissioners who, upon taking office in the early ’90s rescinded the county’s newly-enacted impact fee ordinance, thereby denying the county hundreds of millions in non-tax revenue. You can blame the current Commission Chairman for keeping the fees “off the table” solely to please the development community, despite a positive recommendation by a citizen advisory panel.

You can fault Gwinnett’s state legislators for ignorantly approving tax digest-depressing measures like the value offset exemption, never understanding how the politically-popular tax breaks will ultimately result in higher tax rates for everybody.

You can impute equal fault to the current Commission for failing to capture non-tax revenue sources like impact fees; for failing to aggressively respond to the ever-increasing drain on public services by ineligible recipients; and for continuing to adopt deficient tax rates despite the resultant depletion of the county’s financial resources.

But assigning blame serves no purpose unless the problems, once identified, are resolved. County leadership should immediately take the following steps: Read more »

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In recent weeks, I have offered several “simple ideas” to address different aspects of Gwinnett’s haphazard growth. Today, please consider something slightly different but equally as important– a simple, common sense approach to property tax reform.

What if your state legislators, by approving a simple change to Georgia’s property tax law could ensure that, as property assessments (values) increased, the millage (tax) rate would DECREASE as long as elected officials held the line on the cost of government? What if that simple change would result in an immediate property TAX CUT for many Georgians… maybe, even you?

I asked the same questions of Gwinnett’s State Representatives and State Senators recently (text of my email below). As a former chairman of a county Board of Equalization (the citizen panel that hears property tax appeals), I know that Georgia’s law regarding the millage rate is flawed. As a result, your city council, county commission or school board can adopt ANY TAX RATE it chooses without any regard for what the government services that they provide actually cost.

As a result, ALMOST ALL adopt a mathematically-incorrect tax rate and, many times, that incorrect tax rate is too high, meaning that you pay more in property taxes than is required to fully fund government services. In fact, during my most recent study of Gwinnett tax rates, ONLY ONE taxing authority adopted a mathematically-correct millage rate! Many of you paid more than your fair share in property taxes… especially if you live within one of Gwinnett’s cities.

Property tax reform will be a hot topic in the upcoming legislative session, beginning just after the first of the year. This session will be our best opportunity to actually get something accomplished. You can encourage your state representatives to enact MEANINGFUL and EFFECTIVE property tax reform.  Here is what you can do today:

1. Visit www.millagerate.com . It’s the #1 site (as ranked by Google) on this topic. You will find an analysis of the problem, a description of my simple solution and real-life case studies.

2. Contact your state representatives, if only by forwarding this newsletter to them as evidence of your concern. You can easily contact all representatives at once by sending a single email to statehouse@aboutgwinnett.com for your Gwinnett State Representatives and statesenate@aboutgwinnett.com for your State Senators.

3. Encourage your friends, neighbors and emal list to visit www.millagerate.com and get involved.  Politicians react to numbers; they understand that 10 emails can represent the concerns of hundreds of voters who do not contact them. It is imperative to our success that our representatives hear from us.

>> Dear Legislator,

The GSU Fiscal Research Center today called House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s plan to eliminate property taxes “a bust.” Both Governor Perdue and Lt. Governor Casey Cagle have expressed their reservations about the proposal. I am sure that you have heard strong opposition from Gwinnett’s Board of Education and Board of Commissioners, among others. The plan, although ambitious in its scope, is fatally flawed.

Most likely, Richardson’s plan will go nowhere this session; the property tax system will be with us for years to come. However, it will be a hot topic in 2008; I understand that there will be over a dozen other property tax-related bills under consideration.

What if you could sponsor the ONLY legislation that you could GUARANTEE would eliminate “back door” tax increases resulting from higher assessments; promote honesty and transparency in the tax process; force local governments to CUT COSTS; and result in an IMMEDIATE PROPERTY TAX CUT for many Georgians?

The proposal that I describe at www.MillageRate.com will do that and more. And this is no radical or untested tax scheme– my proposal is simply to codify a method for calculating the millage rate that has been taught by the Department of Revenue to tax commissioners, appraisers, assessors and Board of Equalization members for decades.

The web site is extremely popular; especially this time of year when Georgia taxpayers are paying their tax bills. It is ranked #1 in a Google search for “millage rate.” I receive inquiries weekly from Georgia property owners who are trying to understand why their tax bills continue to skyrocket while government services remain inadequate. I have been invited to speak to homeowner groups and elected officials across the state, and I expect interest to increase as you address this topic next year.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you in greater detail.
Quite frankly, I want the Gwinnett delegation to take the lead (and receive the credit) for spearheading the only MEANINGFUL and EFFECTIVE property tax reform to come out of the 2008 session.

I am available to meet with you at your convenience.

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by Bob Griggs, bobg@rosebudga.com 

Oftentimes, the first notice that homeowners receive that a nearby corner is pending rezoning is when the rezoning signs go up on the property, or when the required letters to nearby property owners hit the mailboxes. By that time, the first public hearing is usually less than a month away.

(To be completely honest, rezoning applications are published at the county web site many months in advance. There really is no reason that a rezoning should sneak up on anybody.)

It is EXTREMELY difficult for the community to organize in response to the rezoning at that point, especially if there is no neighborhood coalition already in existence.

But what if a sign, standing right next to the rezoning sign, could provide notice of the community’s involvement in the rezoning process?

I propose that the county ordinances be amended to allow recognized neighborhood organizations, at their own expense, to post a placard no larger than the official zoning notice and bearing the group’s name, web site and/or contact information. The content would be informational only– no campaigning for or against the application.

The rezoning applicant would be prohibited from removing or concealing the signs. The neighborhood sign would remain on the property as long as the rezoning signs were required to be posted.

I expect developers to panic over this one but, once they catch their breath, they are sure to see the benefits.

In areas in which the populace has no communications network, rezoning signs often produce an uninformed, disorganized and often angry crowd at the Planning Commission meeting, the first public hearing in the rezoning process. To the contrary, neighborhood coalitions are almost always better educated and informed and, as a result, their involvement in the public process is usually more controlled and intelligent.

Second, the rezoning applicant will know with whom in the neighborhood he must communicate. In my experience, it is ALWAYS to the applicant’s advantage to disseminate information to the community through an existing network. For future rezonings, the applicant can involve neighborhood organizations earlier in the rezoning process, just by checking the “registered neighborhood groups” for that area.

In my opinion, the county’s policies should ENCOURAGE communication between the rezoning applicant and the community as well as the public’s participation in the rezoning process. Allowing neighborhood groups to post these notices would help to fulfill these goals.

What Do You Think?

Do the signs sound like a good idea to you? If so, forward this email to the County Commission at commishes@aboutgwinnett.com.

You have forwarded dozens of copies of my “Simple Ideas” newsletters in recent weeks and your efforts have gotten the attention of not only the Commission but of local media as well. With the Commission Chairman’s slot and two district seats to be contested next year, now is the perfect time for you to let your elected officials know that you are watching!

If you live within a city, your City Council members need to hear about this simple idea as well. Most municipalities publish email contacts at their web sites. Please take a moment to forward this newsletter to your city officials.

County Commission: commishes@aboutgwinnett.com

PS: Growth-related initiatives can also orginate with the Planning Commission. You can send the same email to all at Planning Commissioners at once at plancomm@aboutgwinnett.com .

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AJC Growth and Development reporter Michael Pearson mentions SaveGwinnett in this article, published on 10/3:

Anti-sprawl Gwinnett activist puts homeowner groups on Web

Gwinnett County residents interested in mobilizing neighbors against zoning requests and other land-use issues have a new tool.

Snellville political activist Bob Griggs has launched Save Gwinnett, a Web site offering free community blogs and other tools to homeowners groups and others interested in tracking land-use issues.

The site, www.savegwinnett.com, is the latest entry into Web activism for Griggs, who also operates the Talk Gwinnett Web site. It joins groups such as the United Gwinnett Community Alliance in seeking to serve homeowners groups and others that frequently rise up to oppose land-use decisions heard by the county and city governments.

In addition, some neighborhoods and community groups already have independent Web sites or news groups, such as the SR 324 Development Watch Group run by Dacula resident Julia Butler to notify residents about land-use issues around the east Gwinnett community.

Buford resident Will Nelson, who has been tracking a major commercial project that’s about to begin construction behind his home, said sites such as Save Gwinnett keep people connected to government decisions.

“The Internet is the only way to connect people because they are so busy and scattered,” he said. “I am amazed at the number of people out there who want to do something, not scream and yell, but actively participate in a civil way.”

Griggs, a Web developer by trade, is offering the free sites as an outgrowth of long-running involvement in land-use and political issues.

He said he may place advertising on the site, but is not looking to use them as a major moneymaker.

“It’s just a matter of providing the local resources and support for people to be effective in influencing the change that’s occurring in their neighborhoods,” he said.

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by Bob Griggs, bobg@rosebudga.com  

Last week, I floated a simple idea for reining in Gwinnett’s willy-nilly, often nonsensical growth– the county should not accept an application for rezoning unless the proposal already complies with the land-use plan.

You must have thought that it was a pretty good idea as well– dozens of you forwarded the article to the County Commission via the address commishes@aboutgwinnett.com. Some of you received the same reply as did I from Chairman Charles Bannister– that the county planning staff was already working on such a policy.

I have been told that Bannister wasn’t being quite honest… the planning staff had never been charged with incorporating this requirement into the county’s rezoning process. Regardless, if the staff is NOW considering this simple idea for controlling bad development, then progress has been made. Read more »

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by Bob Griggs, bobg@rosebudga.com 

Here is a simple solution for Gwinnett’s unrestrained growth– the county should not accept an application for rezoning unless the proposal already complies with the Land Use Plan.

If a developer wants to build something that doesn’t match the LUP, he must first petition to change the Plan… and the burden of proof is on the applicant to show that the proposed use is more suitable than the use established by the Plan. Land Use Plan changes are only considered twice a year and a public hearing is required, as is done now.

This approach would have two primary benefits– first, it would increase the value of the Plan. Today, the LUP is often ignored simply because somebody asked… because a developer filed a rezoning. Under my proposal, the LUP would become much more than a non-binding “guideline for growth.”

Second, development decisions would not be made under pressure of a pending rezoning, after just 20 minutes of public discussion. The LUP is developed over months with input from staff and professionals, developers and the public. It should be the authoritative word on when and where growth should occur.

If a builder didn’t follow a plan, his structure would collapse. We must follow a plan for growth to protect our community from a similar fate.

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We gave a couple of media folks a little “heads-up” regarding our impending launch, and already the site has gotten a little press! Here’s our first mention, in the AJC’s “Gwinnett Insider” column:

Nimbies on the Net

Perhaps a basement isn’t the best place to start a revolution.

Bob Griggs would probably agree with that. The political activist says he’s close to launching an Internet service that provides free Web sites for homeowner groups trying to get organized, articles on development issues and information on how to obtain public records.

The address will be www.savegwinnett.com.

“I have several groups and individuals who are waiting on me to complete this project so that they can be among the first to sign up,” Griggs said in an e-mail he sent us.

Once the site is up, he said, “an individual or group opposing a rezoning, for example, can go to www.savegwinnett.com and sign up for a free site. The site is created immediately and, in a matter of minutes the user can be publishing content.”

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