Wedding venue in Blue Ridge, GA for couples in Roswell, GA

ROSWELL, Ga., Nov. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Roswell Junction, a unique Food Hall concept featuring a diverse mix of amenities and experiences will soon be coming to this flourishing Atlanta suburb.

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Slated for completion in June, Roswell Junction is located on the site of the former Atlanta Street Baptist Church, which sold the property and moved to Woodstock as part of the Historic Gateway Project. By incorporating Roswell Junction's design into the historic facility's campus, the venue gives new purpose to a local landmark. Offering a variety of concepts under one roof, Roswell Junction will appeal to a large audience base and bring a fresh twist to an area already well-known for single-themed food, beverage and entertainment venues.

Recently featured in the Oct 23^rd Wall Street Journal, Roswell Junction is transforming a crowded and aging streetscape into a vibrant, open dining and entertainment experience, while maintaining its historic charm. Roswell's historic redevelopment has already elevated the community's profile to become one of region's most popular dining and entertainment destinations. Roswell Junction backers plan to capitalize on Roswell's popular social scene while tapping into the growing popularity of food hall concepts like Atlanta's Ponce Market and Austin's Faregrounds.

Roswell Junction will house eight unique food concepts, three separate bars including an indoor/outdoor bar, a large patio and music bandstand and even a fenced in dog park to this unique entertainment destination located just south of the historic Roswell Square at the gateway to the Roswell Atlanta Street redevelopment project.

"Exciting times are coming to Roswell's thriving social scene," said developer Will Colley. "Roswell Junction honors Roswell's historic roots while infusing modern touches with industrial design elements to deliver an inviting indoor/social outdoor space and an array of tastes, entertainment and experiences." Colley has already competed several projects in the district and is partnering with renowned food and beverage experts Coliccio Consulting and Cushman/Wakefield to deliver on the Roswell Junction initiative as part of the Atlanta Street redevelopment.

"We are excited to welcome Roswell Junction to the City of Roswell—it will add a unique dining experience for our residents and visitors to enjoy," said Roswell Mayor Kurt Wilson. "I am looking forward to them opening this spring and experiencing a new way of dining here in Roswell. I know the food hall concept will be a great success in our community."

To learn more about Roswell Junction, please visit roswelljunction.com.

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ROSWELL, Ga. — When James Dillard created Recap Roswell, a website that breaks Roswell City Council meetings into digestible chunks, he drew from his time living in Switzerland as inspiration.

“Switzerland is a very high trust society with a very high degree of civic participation,” he said. “When you’re living abroad, you see your home differently, and that caused me to place a greater value on participating, in making the system work.”

Dillard also said Robert Putnam’s nonfiction book “Bowling Alone” was an influence. Putnam writes about the decline of social capital, how society is becoming less participatory, even in smaller institutions like social clubs.

Dillard is not alone. Other innovators are developing tools to help keep citizens engaged in government.

“I feel like Roswell, Georgia, the United States would be healthier if we have more of those institutions, or micro institutions, where people are connecting and going through the process of deciding what they think they should do together and then, trying to make that happen in the real world,” Dillard said.

In May, Dillard built Recap Roswell from scratch using ChatGPT, an AI-powered language model developed by the nonprofit organization OpenAI.

For each post, he creates a transcript from the video recording of the latest council meeting. Then, he runs the transcript through the OpenAI API, based on a chain of different requests which synthesizes it down to a quick summary.

“You now are taking hundreds of hours of time and condensing it to something that someone, like yourself, can get through in 15 or 20 minutes,” Dillard said.

But, using AI is not without its pitfalls. He has to check the summary for “hallucinations,” or errors presented as fact.

“I do want to minimize the chance that I invent a decision by the City Council,” Dillard said.

He said Recap Roswell also spawned from wanting to understand where the political fault lines are in Roswell government.

“All of the candidates sort of say the same things,” Dillard said, referring to his latest post on candidates in Roswell’s upcoming municipal election. “It's very difficult to parse what the choice actually is between them, right?”

Roswell’s local election is one of the most contested in north Metro Atlanta, where at least two candidates are vying for each seat. In other cities, some candidates – many of them incumbents – will automatically get a council seat because they have no opponents.

Because there were no contested races in Alpharetta this year, the city canceled its municipal election. It did the same in 2015 for the same reason.

In the past couple of decades, other area cities have canceled their municipal elections, including Roswell in 2003, Johns Creek in 2009, Milton in 2013 and Cumming across three years. There have been cancellations in Sandy Springs, too.

Incumbents who get their re-election bid without challenge might mean there’s less accountability, said Saba Long, executive director of Atlanta Civic Circle (ACC).

With the slogan “Complexity shuts you out, ACC opens the door for you,” the nonprofit is a civic engagement and media outlet that covers local democracy and housing affordability challenges in Metro Atlanta.

“When an elected official is not adhering to the public trust, when they are not making decisions that are in the best interest of their constituents and the public at large, then they should be contested,” Long said.

She said the number of candidates running for office runs parallel to the level of civic engagement.

“When more people are engaged in their local government, the more likely it is that people will vote; the more likely it is that people will run for office; and the more likely it is that they have a stake in what's happening,” Long said.

To increase public engagement, and thus accountability, she said local government meetings need to be “de-mystified.” She said a solution could be that municipalities add a webpage explaining how citizens can sign up for public comment or interact with elected officials.

“Public meetings can be intimidating for those who aren't familiar with it and don't know about it,” Long said.

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The Roswell City Commission approved the fiscal year 2024 budget last week, including another round of hefty funding to grow the city’s fire department.

Roswell is one of the larger cities in Georgia, but its fire department is made up of part-time employees. It’s a five-year plan, beginning with the 2023 budget.

“If we’re not already, our goal is to be the number one family community in America and the first priority is safety,” said council member Christine Hall. “Here we are, the seventh or eighth largest city now in the state of Georgia, I think we were the largest city in the United States that did not have a full-time fire department.”

Last year, the city brought on 21 new fire captains and this year, they’ll grow their staff by even more. The budget will allow them to hire 25 new full-time employees including three new battalion chiefs to help the only one they currently have, nine new lieutenants, and even a full-time logistics captain to help with day-to-day operations like uniforms and fleet maintenance.

“In cities like Roswell where we’re almost 100,000 people and we respond to more than 10,000 calls for service in the fire department every year, it’s important to have dedicated staffing that’s always going to be there,” said Roswell Fire Chief Joe Pennino. “The heavy focus in the fire department is on personnel, as it should be.”

Pennino says staffing the department at full tilt also could cut down on response times, especially for battalion chiefs who are often in charge of running emergency responses smoothly on-scene. He added that having a full-time staff will also allow crews to train together for real-life emergencies, instead of responding to calls with people they may never have worked with or worked with very little.

“They need to train together, just like a sports team or military unit to make sure that they’re well-rehearsed,” he said.

Roswell had been using an unworkable system, Pennino says, of scheduling part-timers and volunteers based on who was available in a given week. The department has 42 square miles to safeguard, and Pennino says the more people the better.

“Public safety it’s a calling, serving the citizens is a calling,” he said. “A lot of people are excited right now at the opportunities that Roswell has to offer.”

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Lights, camera, action: Roswell, GA, is not just a popular place for movie makers but also for residents who want a happily-ever-after setting to call home. This sought-after Atlanta suburb is one of the best places to live in the U.S. because of its historic charm, welcoming neighbors, strong economy and nationally recognized health care facilities, including WellStar North Fulton Hospital, Emory Clinic and Piedmont health care. The city also has several top-rated public schools, making it a good choice for families with children.

While jet setters and business commuters appreciate that one of the world’s busiest airports, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, is close by, there’s loads of fun to be had close to home. For example, Roswell hosts annual festivals celebrating everything from lavender to Monarch butterflies. There’s even a homemade ice cream social in August with volunteer “crankers” making more than 100 varieties. Locals also love coming together on summer nights for Reels and Wheels, an outdoor movie showing with food trucks providing the snacks.

Roswell’s prime location near the Chattahoochee River means the city offers plenty of things to do for outdoor enthusiasts. Roswell also has a burgeoning craft beer scene, and you can enjoy a cold pint after a day floating on the Chattahoochee River. Roswell also has a thriving arts and culture scene, and the city is home to several art galleries, theaters and museums.

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Roswell ranks highest for economy, amenities and transportation.

Weather and Outdoor Activities in Roswell, GA

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The Local and State Economy in Roswell, GA

With a strong economy, top-rated public schools and a thriving arts and culture scene, Roswell is one of only two Georgia cities to be named a Top 100 best place to live. Read more about Roswell and learn why you should consider moving to Georgia. If you’re interested in the region, check out the 25 top places to live in the Southeast.

ROSWELL, Ga. — Roswell residents will get what they voted for in 2016’s original transportation sales tax referendum – a streamlined east-west connector over Ga. 400.

It’s one of the city’s largest transportation projects to date, estimated for about $60 million when the project was proposed in 2016.

The City Council voted unanimously Dec. 11 to modify the current alignment of the Big Creek Parkway back to the original design that voters saw when the sales tax was proposed.

The Georgia Department of Transportation will construct a bridge over Ga. 400 for the new parkway about halfway between Holcomb Bridge Road and Mansell Road.

When the Roswell City Council voted for a realignment of the project in 2019, residents criticized the longer, less-direct path and the departure from the plans presented to voters.

The revised 2019 alignment called for a loop ramp on the west side of the Ga. 400 overpass that would connect to Old Holcomb Bridge Road. It would have placed the east-west parkway farther south to run parallel to Holcomb Bridge Road.

The original proposal in 2016 called for a direct connection between Warsaw Road and Old Alabama Road via the proposed Big Creek Parkway bridge over Ga. 400. The original proposal’s design is a more direct east-west connector than the revised 2019 alignment’s zig-zag path.

Funding is an issue.

The city entered into an agreement with GDOT in 2020 to commit $15 million to the Ga. 400 Express Lanes project, specifically for a diverging diamond interchange at Holcomb Bridge Road.

The Ga. 400 Express Lanes project calls for adding express lanes in each direction from the North Springs MARTA station in Sandy Springs to north of McFarland Parkway in Forsyth County.

When GDOT approached the city last year for approval of the parkway bridge, the state committed to constructing the bridge as a part of its Managed Lanes project with roughly $14 million from the city.

During the approval of the 2023 agreement, GDOT pushed for a reconsideration of the 2019 alignment.

While the 2019 realignment is cheaper to construct, Transportation Director Jeffrey Littlefield said the original alignment provides superior east-west connectivity for Roswell residents.

Littlefield said the financial impacts of modifying the project’s alignment include the escalation of construction prices since 2016 and the $15 million committed to GDOT for the Holcomb Bridge Road interchange.

Funding comes from the transportation sales tax passed by voters in 2016.

According to city documents, there is roughly $443,668 available in a TSPLOST 1 account and over $32 million available in the Big Creek Parkway TSPLOST 1 account.

Because construction costs have ballooned since 2016, the city requested $40 million from the local delegation of the Georgia General Assembly to assist with the project.

The city also requested appropriations from the local delegation because of the $15 million committed to GDOT in the 2020 intergovernmental agreement.

The 2023 intergovernmental agreement states the city must begin constructing their portion of the Big Creek Parkway, connecting Warsaw Road and Old Alabama Road to the Ga. 400 bridge, within 12 months of GDOT’s completion of the bridge.

Littlefield said GDOT will go into procurement for the project sometime in spring 2024.

“Our work is highly dependent on their project,” Littlefield said.

After the modification passed, Roswell’s Department of Transportation brought a contract amendment before the council to allow Gresham Smith to develop the construction plans and for Atkins to manage the design process of the project.

The amendment authorizes no more than $2.5 million for the Big Creek Parkway project and will begin the design and permitting process, Littlefield said.

Some residents said the 2019 realignment would reduce wetland disruption and residential displacement.

During public comment at the Dec. 11 meeting, Lauren Fields of the Liberty Square subdivision said she has concerns about the environmental impact of the project’s construction.

Another Roswell resident, Charles Krieger, said he wanted to understand the “thought process” behind the back-and-forth nature of the project’s design.

Ultimately, the environmental concerns about construction over Big Creek were assuaged by GDOT’s commitment to environmental protections.

“Because of topography it sits significantly higher than the other surrounding areas, so it doesn’t delve into the lowlands where the creek bed is,” Councilwoman Sarah Beeson said.

There are significant requirements that GDOT and the city must meet for construction of the project to begin, she said.

Councilman Mike Palermo spoke about the progress of the Big Creek Parkway throughout his eight years on the council.

“In the last year, I’ve seen more progress with this mayor and council urgently wanting to bring enhancements to improve our quality of life,” Palermo said. “As well as follow through with what voters asked for.”