Friday, Febraury 6, 2004

Fairburn looking toward more commercial development

By LINDSAY BIANCHI
lbianchi@thecitizennews.com

Residential development may be taking a back seat to commercial development if plans to revitalize the Fairburn downtown area come to fruition. Mayor Betty Hannah and the City Council discussed future plans and projects at their retreat last Friday.

Although nothing was finalized as far as policies were concerned, an overview of the city’s needs were discussed. Annexation was the foremost subject on the council’s minds. The main concern was in creating a balance between commercial and residential growth, said city clerk Nancy Faulkner. With Fairburn growing the way it has in the past year, it has come time for those in charge to seriously think about the logistics of a larger community.

Faulkner said there was some discussion in the direction of starting a Chamber of Commerce. The reorganization of City Hall has helped to boost progress in the South Fulton area. Faulkner added that Mayor Hannah’s vision for the city in 2004 was a strong indicator as to how Fairburn will grow in the future.

Quality over quantity was a big part of the vision that Mayor Betty Hannah imparted in her state of the city address at Fairburn's first City Council meeting earlier this year.

After summarizing the accomplishments of the previous year Mayor Hannah projected Fairburn's goal for 2004 "to not only be the best community in South Fulton but to be the best community in the state."

Hannah emphasized completion of projects initiated during this period stating that "the frantic pace of new residential development was brought under control in the last year."  

Promising to "work toward developing new reserve sources of funding to help relieve the property tax burden" in Fairburn, the mayor stressed her intent to strive to achieve a level of excellence for the city and its people.