Lilburn CID March 2021 Newsletter
Spotlight on Brian Burchik, City of Lilburn’s Community Development Administrator
& Public Information Officer
Brian Burchik is a Georgia native who grew up in Lilburn then moved his family back from Lawrenceville for the walkable downtown life with a small-town feel. The revitalization of Old Town Lilburn piqued his interest and eventually led to his run for City Council. His early hours as a Director at Mount Vernon School allowed him to participate part-time on the council until he resigned to take a position with the Lilburn Downtown Development Authority.
In August 2020, Brian transitioned his passion for building a strong community into a full-time role with the City of Lilburn. He feels that the City’s schools, safety, neighborhoods, parks and amenities lay the groundwork for attracting high-quality commercial concepts with retail and restaurants.
“We’ve had a lot of significant new, quality residential projects in our downtown — and retail follows rooftops — so, we’re bolstering the infrastructure to welcome those destination concepts.”
Brian has been working on new branding efforts to promote the City, not only with new wayfinding and signage, but also by creating a YouTube web series and podcast to communicate updates and engage Lilburn’s citizens. Brian credits a team effort between the City of Lilburn, Lilburn Downtown Development Authority, Lilburn CID and the Lilburn Police Department for creating a safe community where people want to live and do business in the city he loves.
Spotlight on Gwinnett County District 3 Commissioner, Jasper Watkins
Lilburn is not in Commissioner Jasper Watkins’ district, however the LCID recognizes all he has accomplished toward making Gwinnett County a great place to live and work. We also look forward to the major impact he will have on Lilburn as one of our County Leaders.
Commissioner Watkins’ military family life and military service led to worldly travels, but he and his wife happened upon their future home in Grayson when they got lost and fell in love with the town and the Gwinnett community. With a self-proclaimed Type A personality and experience in the highly specialized field of nuclear pharmacy, Commissioner Watkins was not the type to retire and leisurely spectate. In fact, he wanted to learn how he could better support Gwinnett County and got involved with his HOA, the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club and NAACP. Commissioner Watkins was not satisfied with sitting on the sidelines, he was willing to put in the sweat equity to build and sustain a strong community, which led to his run for a seat on the Gwinnett Board of Commissioners.
One of the Commissioner’s passion projects is improving the County’s transit, although he knows that infrastructure is a big obstacle. He is committed to working with and supporting Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson’s vision to improve infrastructure and create an equitable Transportation Referendum that will provide economic development and growth in Gwinnett County.
Commissioner Watkins appreciates the work CIDs do and have done and the symbiotic relationship they have in supplementing and enhancing community amenities, security with Flock cameras, infrastructure improvements and accelerating policies, which allow him to focus on his County duties.
“Not only is the County open for business, but the County is the preferred place to live in Georgia!”
During his “spare” time, you can find Commissioner Watkins enjoying the local parks, flying his drone or traveling with his wife.
LCID Executive Director Tad Leithead on Gwinnett Business Radio X
LCID Executive Director Tad Leithead recently spoke with Mike Sammond and Steven Julian on the Gwinnett Business Radio X show about upcoming projects the CID is working on with the City of Lilburn to help and improve the district.
Listen to the show here.
State of Gwinnett County 2021
Gwinnett County Commission Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson delivered the State of Gwinnett County Address on March 3 where she lauded the County’s pursuit of excellence, she deemed the “Gwinnett Standard.”
She stated that while the County has seen many changes throughout the years, the tradition of excellence perseveres. As people continue to move to Gwinnett from around the city, state and even the globe, their influences only enhance the Gwinnett Standard.
A recording of Council for Quality Growth’s Gwinnett State of the County event can be viewed on the LCID website.
March 17 LCID Board Meeting Recap
The LCID met its quorum for its quarterly board meeting on Wednesday, March 17. Lilburn Mayor Tim Dunn was in attendance and participated in the discussion regarding many of the joint CID and City projects.
The board passed a motion for a caucus of electors on June 16 for two board members seeking reelection. LCID Board Chair Jim Vaught is seeking reelection for his three-year term Post 2 seat and Shiv Aggarwal is seeking reelection for his Post 5 seat. All members of the CID are invited to attend the caucus at Lilburn City Hall or virtually via Zoom, but must be physically present to vote.
LCID Landscaping and Maintenance Update from Russell Landscape
With spring just around the corner, Russell Landscape has been busy planting, cleaning and maintaining the district’s corridors. We are grateful to have such a budding relationship with Russell Landscape.
Be sure to wave at the dedicated crew when you spot them working in the district!
Gwinnett County has been ardently working on deploying new technology that will allow emergency vehicles to safely travel through intersections with pre-emptive traffic signal changes. The Pre-emptive Traffic Signal Project aims to equip emergency vehicles with technology that will signal traffic lights as they approach an intersection, changing or keeping the light green to manage traffic flow and allowing safe passage.
The proposal for the first of two phases encompasses installing the technology in Gwinnett’s emergency response vehicles and in about 50% of Gwinnett’s traffic signals (385 of the 743) throughout 2021. LCID’s involvement was instrumental in including Lawrenceville Highway in phase one.
Connect With Us
For more timely project updates and news, please follow Lilburn Community Improvement District on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.
To have your business or event included in our next CID newsletter, please contact Tad Leithead or email [email protected]. Sign up for the LCID newsletter here.
188 individual parcels
$123 million in total value
158 property owners
$300 million is the goal amount to have join the CID
$600,000 annual funds to CID from assessed millage