Roswell’s Gateway

It’s time for the City of Roswell to spruce up the primary gateway into our great city, the GA400/Holcomb Bridge Road Interchange. The City should have an entrance that makes those entering know they are in Roswell and are welcome here.

Virtually every subdivision in Roswell maintains an attractive entrance.  The North Fulton Community Improvement District (CID) recently invested $700,000 on landscaping on Mansell Road to create a gateway to North Fulton.  Georgia cities from Smyrna to Suwanee are beautifying the entrance to their cities. These neighborhoods, businessmen and elected officials recognize the importance of making a good first impression in marketing their communities.

Al Nash, Chairman of the Council for Quality Growth, Board Member with the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, and Roswell resident and businessman, came to me and said that if Roswell wants to fill vacant stores and improve property values in our city, we need to begin by dressing up our primary entrance, the GA400/Holcomb Bridge Road interchange.

At Al’s insistence I held two meetings.  The first was attended by the owners of commercial property in the Holcomb Bridge Road Corridor, the second by representatives of homeowner associations and property owners.  Roberto Parades, a Roswell architect, presented a vision of what Roswell’s gateway could look like by landscaping the right-of-way, dressing up the bridge over GA400, and erecting architectural markers at each end of the bridge.  To see Roberto Paredes’ presentation go to Gateway to Roswell on Facebook.  Everyone enthusiastically supported Al’s recommendation that we beautify Roswell’s gateway.

I will present Al’s gateway proposal at the next Community Development Committee meeting, Wednesday July 22 at 8:00 a.m. at City Hall and ask the Council to apply for a $50,000 GDOT grant available for beautification of state highways and to invest additional city funds to beautify Roswell’s Gateway.  Brandon Beach, GDOT Board Member for our district, has promised to personally walk this application through the approval process.

Roswell is your City.  If you believe we need to spruce up our gateway, please let the Council know by emailing them.  For their e-mail addresses go to www.roswellgov.com or let them know in person at the July 22nd committee meeting.

Mayor Jere Wood