The effort to split Fulton County in two is back again (Sandy Springs: tax, living in)

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by Vacanegro

That's what happens when the North Fulton Cow continually has it's milk sent south.

Sooner or later the Northerners start asking what they are getting for their taxes dollars. This discussion was the same when I lived in Atlanta during the 80s.

Their cow dollars are being sent to help the entire county, the residents 'up north' seem to forget that their county is long and includes what was once Campbell County. So it's not as if their tax dollars are going to support another county, but it all stays within their county. If FIB corridor sees investment from their tax dollars being invested, then it helps all Fulton County residents.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

I just have to disagree with that. Imagine instead part of Milton went to Cobb, some to Fulton, some to Cherokee, some to Forsyth. Would the area today really look that much different? I don't think so. I think the successes of north Fulton today have more to do with the fact that it's along 400 and is in the center of the prosperous northern suburbs. North Fulton today isn't an island, it's simply part of a continuous affluent swath of suburbs. There's just so little in common with old Milton county and present day N Fulton.

A bankrupt Milton county would not be able to afford to run water/sewer lines or provide sufficient public safety coverage. All would impact development. Also, if Milton County was bankrupt and not absorbed into powerful Fulton County, maybe there would be little political push to develop GA 400 and open the area up.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by cqholt

A bankrupt Milton county would not be able to afford to run water/sewer lines or provide sufficient public safety coverage. All would impact development. Also, if Milton County was bankrupt and not absorbed into powerful Fulton County, maybe there would be little political push to develop GA 400 and open the area up.

Right, a failed Milton wouldn't be able to provide services. But it's not like the state would have allowed that to happen in any capacity (and it didn't hence the joining of Fulton). But I don't think it's Fulton specifically. Like I said, have that area split into the adjoining counties and I think the outcome is the same. GA 400 is interesting. It really spurred the development up there and over 40 years later I can't really comment on who's responsible for pushing for it.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

Right, a failed Milton wouldn't be able to provide services. But it's not like the state would have allowed that to happen in any capacity (and it didn't hence the joining of Fulton). But I don't think it's Fulton specifically. Like I said, have that area split into the adjoining counties and I think the outcome is the same. GA 400 is interesting. It really spurred the development up there and over 40 years later I can't really comment on who's responsible for pushing for it.

I doubt Forsyth for Cherokee were in any position to absorb more residents and provide services to a larger area. Fulton and Cobb had the capacity, but not many others back in the 30's.

[sedimenjerry]

And I mentioned this previously, if N Fulton never developed into what it is today, the current wealth would simply be located somewhere else. It's not like all of the middle class would suddenly be poor farmers because of a lack of development. They simply wouldn't have moved to the area. Probably in Gwinnett or Cobb instead

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by cqholt

I doubt Forsyth for Cherokee were in any position to absorb more residents and provide services to a larger area. Fulton and Cobb had the capacity, but not many others back in the 30's.

Right, but Atlanta was tiny in the 30s anyway. The boom wasn't til decades later. Plenty of time to recover

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

Right, but Atlanta was tiny in the 30s anyway. The boom wasn't til decades later. Plenty of time to recover

Atlanta was booming, but Milton was nothing but farmland.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Atlanta was booming, but Milton was nothing but farmland.

Well, COA was, but the suburbs weren't. The typical Roswell, Alpharetta, Johns Creek (and Cobb and Gwinnett) suburban development that pushed metro Atlanta into the multi millions didn't come til what the 70s/80s and later? Roswell was 5,430 people in 1970. That jumped to 23,000 by 1980 and 47,000 by 1990. Alpharetta was still under 5,000 in 1980. Added 10,000 by 1990. Cobb had some significant growth after WW2 but has actually been pretty steady overall. Gwinnett didn't have their explosive growth til the 70s and 80s. Basically, all that growth was well after the dissolution of Milton County. Milton was never at risk of trying to handle an expanding suburban population.

[David1502]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

And I mentioned this previously, if N Fulton never developed into what it is today, the current wealth would simply be located somewhere else. It's not like all of the middle class would suddenly be poor farmers because of a lack of development. They simply wouldn't have moved to the area. Probably in Gwinnett or Cobb instead

To understand how North Fulton came to be the affluent area today goes back to the 1910's when the wealthiest Atlantans moved from the present East Lake Country Club (south of Decatur) to the West Paces Ferry Rd. corridor of Buckhead. They built large mansions on large acreage because they wanted the trees to cool down their homes in the days before air conditioning. This established the Buckhead and northern regions as the high dollar location for Atlanta. By the 1950's some of these large, 10 +acre estates were broken up for many of the subdivisions along West Paces Ferry you see today. Subsequent higher priced homes were built to the north in Sandy Springs, particularly along the Northside Drive, Riverside Drive and Heards Ferry Rd. corridors.


By the late 1970's/early 1980's this pattern of higher end development continued in the same direction to Vinings, and later spilled over from Sandy Springs to the area of East Cobb near the Chattahoochee River. By the 1980's Rowell was in the vortex of this development of higher end homes and Alpharetta soon followed. The municipality we now know as Milton was particularly unique in that it had been an area of unincorporated Fulton County which did not have sewer lines. This meant larger lot sizes which led to large homes on large estate lots (similar to Buckhead back in the 1910's) and thus the town of Milton has come to be known as a new residential Buckhead.


Overall, the reason North Fulton came to be the prosperous location that it is today has more to do with the fact that it was located in the pattern of high end development for the Atlanta area which has centered along GA 400. Take by contrast, the Smokerise area of DeKalb County. Smokerise has large homes on large lots, but there hasn't been any spillover development because it is an isolated pocket surrounded by less affluent communities.


For metro Atlanta, the pattern of development began about 100 years ago in Buckhead and has continued. Forsyth County has experienced this growth today as it has gotten its share country club developments which are spillover of those in Johns Creek and Alpharetta. By contrast, Cherokee County which is not on GA 400 has not had as much high end development as Forsyth and its distance from GA 400 is the reason.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by David1502

To understand how North Fulton came to be the affluent area today goes back to the 1910's when the wealthiest Atlantans moved from the present East Lake Country Club (south of Decatur) to the West Paces Ferry Rd. corridor of Buckhead. They built large mansions on large acreage because they wanted the trees to cool down their homes in the days before air conditioning. This established the Buckhead and northern regions as the high dollar location for Atlanta. By the 1950's some of these large, 10 +acre estates were broken up for many of the subdivisions along West Paces Ferry you see today. Subsequent higher priced homes were built to the north in Sandy Springs, particularly along the Northside Drive, Riverside Drive and Heards Ferry Rd. corridors.


By the late 1970's/early 1980's this pattern of higher end development continued in the same direction to Vinings, and later spilled over from Sandy Springs to the area of East Cobb near the Chattahoochee River. By the 1980's Rowell was in the vortex of this development of higher end homes and Alpharetta soon followed. The municipality we now know as Milton was particularly unique in that it had been an area of unincorporated Fulton County which did not have sewer lines. This meant larger lot sizes which led to large homes on large estate lots (similar to Buckhead back in the 1910's) and thus the town of Milton has come to be known as a new residential Buckhead.


Overall, the reason North Fulton came to be the prosperous location that it is today has more to do with the fact that it was located in the pattern of high end development for the Atlanta area which has centered along GA 400. Take by contrast, the Smokerise area of DeKalb County. Smokerise has large homes on large lots, but there hasn't been any spillover development because it is an isolated pocket surrounded by less affluent communities.


For metro Atlanta, the pattern of development began about 100 years ago in Buckhead and has continued. Forsyth County has experienced this growth today as it has gotten its share country club developments which are spillover of those in Johns Creek and Alpharetta. By contrast, Cherokee County which is not on GA 400 has not had as much high end development as Forsyth and its distance from GA 400 is the reason.

It follows the Chattahoochee River.

From south to north:

Buckhead
Vinings
Sandy Springs
East Cobb
Roswell
Dunwoody
Peachtree Corners
Johns Creek (formerly unincorporated Alpharetta)
North Duluth
Suwanee
South Forsyth