The Georgia Water Stewardship Act

The Georgia Water Stewardship Act signed by Governor Sonny Perdue went into effect in June of 2010. The bill allows daily outdoor watering for purposes of planting, growing, managing, or maintaining ground cover, trees, shrubs, or other plants from 4:00pm – 10:00am.

All other outdoor water usage like washing cars and pressure washing is to follow the watering schedule based on street address shown below:

Monday, Wednesday and Saturday – Even Addresses can Water

Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday – Odd Addresses can Water

Friday – No other Outdoor Watering Is Permitted

Frequently asked questions about outdoor water use:

I heard I can water my yard every day. Is that true?
Yes. Citizens in Georgia can now water any day of the week, regardless of your address, between 4:00pm and 10:00am.

Can I also wash my car or pressure wash my house any day?
No. The new state law only relates to landscape uses. The odd/even schedule remains in place for all other outdoor uses.

Are parks included in the new schedule?
Sports fields and parks are exempt from the hourly restrictions. These areas may be watered any time or day.

If I put in new landscape, do I have to water between 4:00pm and 10:00am?
No. Newly installed landscape is also exempt from the hourly restrictions for the first 30 days following installation.

What about drip irrigation?
Drip irrigation is completely exempt from the outdoor rules. It may be used any time or day.

What exemptions exist to the new hourly restrictions?

•    Commercial Agriculture
•    Alternative sources of water (grey water, rain water, condensate, etc.)
•    Irrigation of food gardens
•    Irrigation of newly installed or reseeded turf for the first 30 days following installation
•    Drip irrigation or soaker hoses
•    Water from a private well
•    Irrigation of plants for sale
•    Irrigation of athletic fields, golf courses, or public recreational turf
•    Installation and maintenance of irrigation systems
•    Hydro seeding

Are professional pressure washers hired to wash my house subject to restrictions based on my address?
No. Commercial businesses are exempt from day of the week restrictions.

Can I have a charity car wash on any day regardless of the address?
No. Unfortunately, charity car washes, like at home car washes, are subject to the odd/even schedule. This is determined by the address of the facility hosting the car wash. Partnering with a professional car wash is exempt from the odd/even schedule due to the company’s professional exemption.

For more information on exemptions and forms to submit violations, visit the Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources’ water conservation webpage through www.gwinnettcounty.com.

More information can be found on the Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources‘ water conservation webpage.

Well it’s back to work after the long Fourth of July holiday weekend that is of course unless you are on vacation this week. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with family, friends, a cookout and last but not least a firework show.

This year for the first time my wife and I went to The Mall of Georgia to take in the fireworks show there. It seemed as though it started a bit late…almost 10:00 but it was well worth the wait. I’ll let you be the judge…Mall of Georgia Fireworks.

Let me know what you think.

Why would you think the County Commissioners wanted to wait until after they voted on the Gwinnett County Solid Waste Collection and Disposal Services Ordinance of 2010 to publish the ordinance? Could it be that they have realized that the lawmakers in Washington D.C. actually got it right by not being transparent? Could it be that they really do have something to hide? Could it be that they are afraid of the confrontation that would have occurred once the educated citizens of Gwinnett County read this 37 page document. Could it be all of the above? After printing out the ordinance and going through it, several things stand out; Minimum Requirements and Service Levels for the Residents of Unincorporated Gwinnett County, Fees for Service, Settling the Existing Lawsuits and Penalties.

Minimum Requirements

There are 4 pages of the ordinance that talk about the Minimum Requirements for Service Providers. Let’s see if we can figure out from these 4 pages what the Commissioner’s intent is for Minimum Requirements the residents of Gwinnett County.

As you can well see, the County Commissioners really had the interests of the citizens of Gwinnett County placed high on their list of priorities. Weekly Collection…WOW!

Fees For Services

Now that the ordinance has been made public, let’s look at what it says about fees. First off the fees will be collected on the tax bills with 18 months being collected on the tax bill coming out starting in the summer of 2010. The tax bill coming out in the summer of 2011 will include 12 months of trash service. Actually that makes sense. Wait a minute, no it doesn’t there is no amount for monthly trash service. Is this whole thing coming back to Gwinnett County Government looking for an additional revenue stream? As with everything else regarding Gwinnett County Government, It’s All About The Money!

Settling the Existing Lawsuits

It is old news that Gwinnett County has been served with several lawsuits regarding the previous Solid Waste Disposal Plan. The new ordinance states:

WHEREAS, the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners has determined that, in the best interest of the residents of Gwinnett County, the legal actions referenced above should be settled; and

WHEREAS, the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners has determined that, in connection with the settlement of the referenced legal actions, the 2008 Ordinance should be deleted in its entirety.

The question is how do the Commissioners intend to settle these lawsuits? Will the Plaintiffs be given preferential treatment in regard to the Service areas? I see nothing in the ordinance that is specific as to how the Residential Service Provider will be selected for the Residential Service Areas. Will it be via a sealed bid process or just the County assigning a particular provider (preferential treatment) to a particular area?

But Wait There Is More…Penalties

Section V A iii States that beginning 7-1-2010 each Owner of a Residential Service Unit shall Dispose of Residential Municipal Solid Waste, White Goods, Bulky Waste and or Yard Trimmings with the Residential Service Provider that has been issued a service agreement by the County for the Residential Service Area in which the Owner’s Residential Service Unit is located. What if I wanted to collect aluminum cans and then sell them myself? Damn It, I would be in violation of this ordinance. Well what would the consequences be? That would fall under Section XXIV Penalties. Any person violating any provision of this ordinance may, upon conviction, be punished by a fine not to exceed $1,000.00 for each offense and /or incarceration or community service not to exceed 60 days. Each day a violation occurs shall be considered a separate and distinct violation.

I thought the previous ordinance was stupid with its $500.00 fine. It even made national news on the Drudge Report. How stupid does this make our county commissioners look? I’m guessing it doesn’t actually do them justice.

So what do you think?

Just how deaf are the Commissioners in Gwinnett County? Well let me see is I can help everyone understand. Last year I served along with a group of volunteers on The Gwinnett County Trash Advisory Committee. We held 6 public meetings throughout the county and the one thing we heard at every meeting was that the citizens of Gwinnett County wanted to be able to choose who their trash hauler was to be. The citizens wanted to have the right to fire a trash hauler that did not perform up to the citizen’s expectations.

The county then paid $131,000 of our tax dollars to R W Beck, a consulting firm, who also conducted public meetings to obtain citizen input regarding trash collection in Gwinnett County. The overwhelming result of the citizens input during these meetings, at least of the ones I was able to attend, once again was that the citizens of Gwinnett County want to choose their trash hauler.

Fast forward to March 2, 2010 Board of Commissioners meeting and the vote to approve the New Gwinnett County Trash Plan. Below is from the Gwinnett County Website:

The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners adopted a new solid waste ordinance for unincorporated Gwinnett County during the board’s business session on March 2, 2010. You may read the ordinance as drafted and also view this brief video clip of discussion among commissioners during the meeting that reflects a slight change made to the ordinance before it was adopted. The ordinance as adopted will be posted as soon as possible.

Gwinnett County’s Solid Waste Information Center – 770.822.7141 – is open for callers Monday through Friday between 7:00am and 7:00pm.

Now I don’t know about the rest of you but I don’t think that 5 districts with only one hauler per district equals choice. My parents always told me not to make fun of the handicapped and I have adhered to that policy up until now. This Board of Commissioners is handicapped. They have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are DEAF. They have no desire to represent the wishes of the citizens of Gwinnett County in this trash matter. So here is my recommendation for the Board of Commissioners… RECALL THESE DEAF IDIOTS NOW!

This week RE/MAX Center in Suwanee launched a new Gwinnett County Real Estate website.  The site falls under the direction of the newly formed “eTeam” whose goal is to generate, incubate, cultivate and help the agents in all 3 metro Atlanta offices with online generated clients. The “eTeam” will also be assisting RE/MAX Center agents in gaining their listed properties maximum exposure on the internet via an RSS feed to multiple websites and targeted blog posts.

It’s that time of year again. Traffic on Sugarloaf Parkway will be backing up as the 2009 edition of the Gwinnett County Fair opens. The 2009 fair will begin on September 17 and run through September 27. Check out event times, show times and hours of operation by clicking here: Gwinnett County Fair Info. Don’t worry about eating prior to attending the fair as there is always plenty of good food, some is very nutritious and some is maybe not so nutritious but what the heck, it’s the fair.

This past week I heard for the first time that getting water turned on at a home has taken a twist in Gwinnett County. I can only imagine that this is due to the number of vacant foreclosure and short sale properties in Gwinnett County that have left the county with unpaid water bills. Let me describe to you what I found out this past week.

In order for a buyer in Gwinnett County to get water turned on the county wants to see a copy of the HUD-1 Settlement Statement from the closing. That would make sense for the county but with one large exception. Most buyers want to have a home inspection prior to closing on the property and having the water on constitutes a big portion of the inspection. After all wouldn’t it be nice for the buyer to know if there are plumbing leaks in a home prior to purchasing it? When I posed the inspection question to the county I was informed of an option. The listing agent needs to provide the buyer’s agent with a copy of the listing agreement signed by the seller and the listing agent. The buyer then takes this copy to the Gwinnett County Water Department and with a payment of $100.00 the water will be turned on for 2 weeks in order for the buyer to get the home inspection performed. After the 2 week period is over the water will be turned off and in order for the buyer to get it permanently put into the buyer’s name a copy of the settlement statement must be presented to the water department. I did question the water department as to whether the $100.00 fee would be credited towards the buyer’s account and was informed that it would not. This is just a fee to get the water turned on for an inspection.  A word of caution, if you want the water turned on the day of closing then you will need to have the settlement statement to the water department before 2:00PM.

Policy for getting the water account transferred into a buyer’s name when it has not been disconnected remains the same as far as I know. All the buyer needs to do is notify the Gwinnett County Water Department of the date to transfer the account and the county will be happy to accommodate.

Gwinnett County Water Department can be reached at 678-376-6800.

PUBLIC ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND AND BE HEARD AS

GWINNETT CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT TO HOST

TOWN HALL MEETING AT GJAC ON 8/27 AT 7 PM

Blue Ribbon Panel to address budget, taxes, trash plan, land use and acquisitions

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA – Gwinnett Citizens for Responsible Government is hosting a Town Hall Meeting sponsored by FreedomWorks at the Gwinnett County Justice and Administration Center on August 27th beginning at 7:00pm in the auditorium.

A citizen’s blue ribbon panel will address topics such as budget cuts, taxes, trash plan, land use and county land acquisitions. The members of the panel confirmed so far include (A Representative of Save Our Dacula Library has been invited):

1.Mary Kay Murphy – Gwinnett County Schools

2. Sabrina Smith – Citizens for responsible Government

3. Demming Bass – VP Communication and Public Policy

Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce

4. B.J. Van Gundy – E2 Assure

5. Butch Poss – United Gwinnett Community HOA Alliance

6. Bob Griggs – Talk Gwinnett

7. Jim Pack -  President (retired) Gwinnett Federal Savings & Loan

8. Jeremy Brand – What a Waste Gwinnett

9. Bruce Levell – Gwinnett Village CID

10. George Thorndyke – Commercial Property Consultants

11. Sgt. R.E. Long of the local Police Union

Elected officials that have confirmed they will attend and participate:

Butch Conway, Gwinnett County Sheriff
Danny Porter, Gwinnett County District Attorney
Jerry Oberholtzer, Mayor City of Snellville
Dallas Stidd, Police Chief of Norcross Police Department
Warren Auld, Snellville City Council
Gary Pirkle, Mayor of Sugar Hill
Diana Preston, Mayor of Lilburn

“The purpose of this event is to gather citizen input and recommendations from business professionals in Gwinnett County.  We formed this organization so that the true feelings of Gwinnett taxpayers could be heard.  For too long our government has been influenced by a small group of people rather than by needs and opinions of the voters.  We plan to change that and strongly encourage Gwinnett citizens to attend this Town Hall,” said Sabrina Smith, one of the event coordinators. She continued, “In recent months we have seen what a difference can be made when citizens become active and stand up and are heard.”

Elected officials will be invited to make statements at the beginning and be available to answer questions that may arise.

Once again the solid waste fiasco in Gwinnett County has reared it’s ugly head. As many of you are aware the county awarded the Request for Proposal for an additional solid waste study to the R W Beck Company. Yesterday was the second in a series of eight meetings to be held through out the county to gather resident input. Other than the attendees that were either employees of R W Beck or the county there were 18 people in attendance, five of which were former members of the Citizens Committee on Solid Waste. To be totally honest I was disappointed in the turn out. Had I not recieved an email notifiing me of the meeting I would not have known about it. I am amazed that the county is spending $131,000.00 to gather citizen input and the meetings are so poorly advertised. Jamie Ward of the Gwinnett Daily Post is doing his part to make citizens aware of the meetings but everyone does not get the paper.

Saturday’s meeting was fairly uneventful. A Power Point presentation detailing how we got to the point we are at was used to start the forum. Ron Baker, a former member of the citizens committee spoke first in the open comment section. Ron was a bit upset with the amount of money being spent on Solid Waste both with this study as well as the various lawsuits that we as citizens of Gwinnett County are going to have to pay. He was also bothered that we can’t open Fire Stations built with SPLOST funds however a new stadium can be up and running.

Patrick Malone, also a former member of the citizens committee also spoke. Patrick stated that he heard what the citizens said regarding wanting choice however he interpreted it to mean that they wanted a lower price. I have to say that I believe that the citizens of Gwinnett County are intelligent enough to state exactly what they mean Patrick. I heard the same comments that you heard and I truly believe that the citizens of Gwinnett County want to be able to choose who their trash hauler is. Just for the record I exercised my ability to choose my hauler 3 weeks ago and fired Waste Pro, one of two the selected haulers in Gwinnett County, and hired Robertson Sanitation, not one of the two selected haulers, as my new hauler. Guess what Patrick, I also got a much lower price.

Another member of the citizens committee, Jimmy Orr also spoke. Jimmy requested that the work and recommendations of the Citizens Committee be carefully reviewed and considered. He also stated that these recommendations are a matter of public record as they were read and entered into the minutes of a Board of Commissioners Meeting. I have not been able to find when this happened but will take Jimmy at his word.

Several Private citizens also spoke and I apologize for not having their names. Their primary comments centered around reducing the number of trucks collecting trash in their neighborhoods and not instituting another County Government Department as they feel that private enterprise can and will better manage the situation. The other main issue brought up was the billing of trash services on the tax bill. This was also one of the most highly discussed issues with the citizens committee.

The forum concluded with an exercise of placing colored dots on posters to show attendee votes on several issues. Just as happened in the previous study by Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful, at least one of the choices was flawed by not offering all the solutions available. This one was regarding recycling. The choices did not include an option for RecycleBank which was discussed in depth at several of the Citizen Committee Meetings. As we all know, you can make a survey say anything you want it to say depending on how you word a question. My advice to the people conducting the phone surveys, the internet surveys and the wording of these questions at these public meetings, be fair and don’t construct your surveys with leading questions. Just remember, there are many citizens of this county that will be watching very carefully.

In an attempt to help get the word out regarding these meetings and when and where they will be held, here is the schedule as I know it:

June 25 6:30pm to 8:00pm Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center Auditorium – 75 Langley Drive – Lawrenceville

July 9 6:30pm to 8:00pm George Pierce Park Community Recreation Center – 55 Buford Highway – Suwanee

July 11 10:00am to 11:30am Pickneyville Park Community Recreation Center – 4650 Peachtree Industrial Blvd. – Norcross

July 15 6:30pm to 8:00pm Dacula Park Activity Building – 205 Dacula Rd – Dacula

July 18 10:00am to 11:30 am Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center Auditorium – 75 Langley Drive – Lawrenceville

July 25 10:00am to 11:30 am George Pierce Park Community Recreation Center – 55 Buford Highway – Suwanee

I am planning on attending several of these meetings but will not be able to make it to all of them. Anyone who can make it to any of the meetings please comment here so that we can collectively keep people informed as to what is being said at the meetings.

Statistics for single family detached homes in the Gwinnett County real estate market for the month of April 2009 are in. Gwinnett County is divided into six different areas and we will examine each area and then look at the county as a whole.

Area 61

Area 61 is that section of the county that is North of I-85 and West of Pleasant Hill Road. Area 61 includes Norcross, Berkeley Lake and part of Duluth. In the resale segment of the market there were 79 properties ranging in price from $14,700 to $575,000 that went under contract and 27 properties that closed ranging in price from $37,000 to $525,000. In the new construction segment of the market 4 homes priced from $199,900 to 41,149,900 went under contract and there were 2 properties closed ranging in price from $345,717 to $1,200,000.

Area 62

Area 62 is the section of the county that is North of Pleasant Hill Road and North of I-85. Area 62 includes Buford, Sugar Hill, part of Duluth and part of Suwanee. In the resale segment of the market there were 192 properties ranging in price from $26,900 to $5,635,000 that went under contract and 114 properties that closed ranging in price from $32,500 to $1,064,500. In the new construction segment of the market 56 properties went under contract ranging in price from $129,900 to $1,499,000 and 25 properties closed ranging in price from $183,900 to $1,340,000.

Area 63

Area 63 is the section of the county that is South of I-85, Northeast of Hwy. 120 and North of Hwy. 29. Area 63 includes parts of Lawrenceville, Duluth, Suwanee and Dacula. In the resale segment of the market there were 206 properties ranging in price from $35,000 to $619,900 that went under contract and 88 properties that closed ranging in price from $70,000 to $373,000. In the new construction segment of the market 37 properties went under contract ranging in price from $149,000 to $679,000 and 11 properties closed ranging in price from $155,000 to $367,500.

Area 64

Area 64 is the section of the county that is South of I-85, Southwest of Hwy. 120, West of Hwy. 124 and North of Hwy. 78. Area 64 includes Lilburn along with parts of Lawrenceville and Snellville. In the resale segment of the market there were 277 properties ranging in price from $18,900 to $550,000 that went under contract and 104 properties that closed ranging in price from $28,000 to $388,000. In the new construction segment of the market 19 properties went under contract ranging in price from $169,900 to $710,000 and 6 properties closed ranging in price from $141,000 to $536,000.

Area 65

Area 65 is the section of the county that is South and East of Hwy. 78 and Hwy. 124, and South and West of Hwy. 20. Area 65 includes Grayson along with parts of Snellville and Lawrenceville. In the resale segment of the market there were 221 properties ranging in price from $29,900 to $884,900 that went under contract and 87 properties that closed ranging in price from $61,500 to $623,333. In the new construction segment of the market 44 properties went under contract ranging in price from $139,900 to $539,000 and 18 properties closed ranging in price from $145,000 to $330,000.

Area 66

Area 66 is that section of the county that is East of Hwy. 20 and South of Hwy. 29. Area 66 includes parts of Dacula and Lawrenceville. In the resale segment of the market there were 166 properties ranging in price from $39,900 to $519,900 that went under contract and 44 properties that closed ranging in price from $50,000 to $265,000. In the new construction segment of the market 35 properties went under contract ranging in price from $135,000 to $450,000 and 15 properties closed ranging in price from $135,000 to $299,000.

Gwinnett County Summary

For the month of April 2009, real estate sales for single family detached homes in Gwinnett County looked like this:
•  1019 Resale Properties Went Under Contract
•    464 Resale Properties Closed
•    195 New Construction Properties Went Under Contract
•     77 New Construction Properties Closed.

April of 2009 appears to have taken a huge step towards recovery in the real estate market in Gwinnett County. Several national reports recently have stated that we may have reached the bottom of the market and a recovery, although it will probably be slower than many would like, is on the way.