What a great first Oktoberfest event we had this last weekend! Thank you to our event sponsors: Top Job Beverage & Events and The District at Duluth.

The City of Duluth marketing team recently attended the City-County Communications & Marketing Association conference in St. Louis, MO where they were awarded the following:

• Savvy Award for the Discover Downtown Duluth Campaign
• Silver Circle Award for the Visitors Guide
• Award of Excellence for the City’s Instagram (@city_of_duluth)
• Award of Excellence for the Mayor’s Carpool Karaoke video

The Savvy Awards, held in conjunction with 3CMA’s Annual Conference, recognize outstanding local government achievements in communications, public-sector marketing and citizen-government relationships. The Savvies salute skilled and effective city, county, agency or district professionals who have creatively planned and carried out successful innovations in communications and marketing. 3CMA accommodates local government organizations of all sizes and budget classes by judging entries in several different population groups. Over 800 entries in 40 categories were received. 3CMA utilized volunteer judges from across the United States to review every entry and provide constructive comments on the winning entries. The list of all award winners is available online at 3cma.org.

On Tuesday, August 24, 2021, the City of Duluth will hold a Public Information Open House (PIOH) to determine the level of public interest in a potential pedestrian project.  The potential project, currently called the West Lawrenceville – Pine Needle Pedestrian Connector would, if constructed, connect cyclists and pedestrians to/from and around downtown Duluth on a roadside trail along West Lawrenceville Street, Pine Needle Drive, and SR 120/Abbotts Bridge Road.   The meeting to discuss this project with the public will be held in person in the lower-level community room of City Hall, located at 3167 Main Street, Duluth, GA  30096.  CDC Guidelines in effect at that time will be enforced.

The meeting will be conducted between the hours of 4:30 pm and 6:30 pm. The meeting will be informal and the public is invited to attend anytime during these hours. There will be no formal presentation.

The project has not yet started.  A potential concept design will be available for discussion purposes only.  There are no funds available yet for this project.  The goal of the meeting is to solicit input and gauge public interest.  There will be an opportunity to leave written comments.  Based on feedback from the public, the City may apply for federal funding in order to design and build this project.

For those not comfortable with in-person interaction, there will be a virtual PIOH on the City’s website from August 24 through September 7.  Comments and input are encouraged to be left online and will be included with the written comments collected at the in-person meeting.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Information:

The meeting site is accessible to persons with disabilities. Accommodations for people with disabilities can be arranged with advance notice by calling Ms. Margie Pozin, City Engineer, City of Duluth Planning Department, 678.957.7284.

Written statements will be accepted concerning this project until September 7, 2021. Please submit written statements to:

Ms. Margie Pozin, PE

City Engineer

City of Duluth

3167 Main St

Duluth, Georgia 30096

OR

mpozin@duluthga.net

Subject Line:  West Lawrenceville – Pine Needle Pedestrian Connector Comments

At the last Council Meeting, Mayor Nancy Harris proclaimed July 12, 2021 to be Adam Flagler Day.

Adam attended school in Duluth from K-12 where he was a member of the City of Duluth LEAD program, held a 3.5 GPA, was a Duluth High School Honor Student and earned the 2016-17 “Wildcat of the Year Award”. Adam holds the all-time 3-point shooting record of 227 in Duluth High School history, scored the most points in a game and is the all-time leading scorer with 1,300 points for Duluth High School.

Adam earned first-team 6-7 A All Region and All-County during his Junior and Senior seasons, Gwinnett Tip-Off Club and Gwinnett Daily Post All-County selection in 2018, was a member of GACA Junior and Senior All-Star teams, was named to McDonalds Tift County Invitational All-Tournament team and was 2015 and 2016 SEBA Atlanta Hoop Festival MVP. He was the recipient of the 2019 Big South Freshman of the Year Award and was a five-time Big South Freshman of the week.

Adam was the recipient of the All Big 12 Academic First Team Award for having a GPA higher than 3.2 and on April 6, he was on Baylor’s first NCAA Division 1 Championship Team making him the first Duluth High School graduate to play in an NCAA final 4 championship Dl game.

Judge Barrett and Judge Lee of the City of Duluth Municipal Court will be hosting a Korean American Outreach Program on May 19 from 6:00-8:30pm at the Korean American Association of Greater Atlanta. This event is presented to enable our Korean neighbors to gain a better understanding of the various courts in Gwinnett County with which they may interact.

Judges from across Gwinnett County have been invited to participate. Guests can expect short presentations from judges representing all classes of court. This will include what types of cases the court hears, overview of special programs offered to the community and general court information. Following the presentation, the judges will take questions from the community.

There will be a Korean-language interpreter present and the event will be televised by Korean-language television.

Korean American Association of Greater Atlanta

5900 Brook Hollow Parkway, Norcross, GA 30071

For questions regarding this event, please email pio@duluthga.net.

The City of Duluth, in partnership with the City of Johns Creek, Gwinnett County and Fulton County broke ground on the pedestrian bridge at Rogers Bridge Park this morning. Representatives from all sides were present and participated in the ceremony.

This is a partnership 15 years in the making! In 2006, Gwinnett County commissioned a study of Rogers Bridge to determine its structural integrity. The goal was to repurpose the bridge for pedestrians and in doing so, reconnect the communities on each side of the Chattahoochee River. In 2014, the City of Duluth took over the project and confirmed the study results. Duluth then applied for a grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission in order to develop construction plans for the bridge. The grant provided $560,000 to the City and required a local match in the amount of $140,000. As the project is of regional significance, Duluth teamed up with the City of Johns Creek and Fulton and Gwinnett Counties to come up with the $140,000 match. Evenly split, each local partner contributed $35,000 toward what is referred to as the “preconstruction” effort, which culminated in the development of construction plans.

At the time the plans were in their initial stages of development, it was not yet known if the bridge would be rehabilitated or replaced. Along the preconstruction journey, it was determined that the existing bridge was eligible for the National Register of Historic Places due to its unique construction method. The existing bridge is a 228’ long pin-connected Pennsylvania Petit truss. As such, the design team carefully documented the bridge’s history as well as its current condition. Ultimately, the Department of Natural Resources agreed the bridge could not be salvaged as is and approved its replacement. Concurrently, the preconstruction team reached out to citizens and stakeholders through various meetings and public open houses held in multiple locations (in multiple languages) to gain feedback as to what the ultimate users of the facility would want. Participants voted on their favored selection of bridge type and it was ultimately determined that a replica truss would best suit the needs of the end users. Both Councils and both Commissions concurred and the design team moved forward with developing construction plans for the replica truss.

The preconstruction process took about 4 years to complete and followed strict state and federal guidelines. Once again, the City reached out to the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Georgia Department of Transportation to assist with funding of the construction. And again, the four local partners came together, this time to participate with $350,000 each for a local match of $1,400,000. GDOT covered approximately $700,000. And ARC covered the remaining approximate $5,100,000. We anticipate the construction to take 18 months and be completed in the summer of 2022, at which time we will celebrate the partnerships we’ve built as well as the new structure itself.

The preconstruction team included Duluth, Johns Creek, Fulton County and Gwinnett County as financial match partners along with the Atlanta Regional Commission, Federal Highway Administration, National Parks Services, Georgia DOT and the Environmental Protection Division’s Department of Natural Resources as additional governmental partners. In addition, Parks Departments from both Cities, Historical Societies from both Cities and local bike/pedestrian advocates participated on our stakeholder team. The design was led by Development Planning & Engineering with structural design support from CHA and environmental documentation and process support by Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc. While Duluth managed the project and the process during preconstruction and will continue to do so through construction, all major decisions were vetted by the stakeholder group and approved by the financial partners. The construction team is led by Astra Group with KCI Technologies representing the City’s interests as the construction administrator on site.

The City of Duluth is looking forward to a successful project and a beautiful bridge connecting us to our neighbors across the Chattahoochee River.