By MICHAEL PEARSON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

The Gwinnett County Redevelopment Agency on Wednesday recommended creation of three new tax allocation districts.

The County Commission now must approve or deny the proposals - and that is expected to come in December. The Gwinnett County School Board would also need to sign on if it were to participate in the effort.

Voters on Tuesday apparently approved a constitutional amendment allowing school districts to once again participate in tax allocation districts. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled in February that the state constitution forbade the use of education funds in TADs. Tax allocation districts produce money to pay for redevelopment by diverting revenues from rising property values into a special fund to pay for construction costs.

Gwinnett’s districts would be located along U.S. 78 between Stone Mountain and Snellville, in Norcross along Jimmy Carter Boulevard and in Duluth between Gwinnett Place Mall and I-85.

The funding tools are widely regarding among county officials and the business community as the best way to foster redevelopment in the southern part of the county, which developed between the 1970s and 1980s and is suffering from high vacancies, under-utilized properties and traffic problems.

The Gwinnett Place TAD would feature $2 billion in development spread across four clusters around Gwinnett Place Mall. The Gwinnett Village district envisions two major projects, one at Jimmy Carter Boulevard and I-85, and the other at Indian Trail Boulevard and I-85. And the U.S. 78 district would include three major centers in a district that spans the distance between Stone Mountain and Snellville.