Gwinnett Daily Post

LILBURN -- The county's fourth community improvement district was approved this week, both by county and city officials.

The Lilburn district, where business owners ban together to tax themselves to fund improvements, includes a property value of $123.6 million and 158 property owners.

"Although we are starting out small, we still have big plans," said Executive Director Gerald McDowell, referring to a call from commissioners to limit the district's borders.

He said future phases of the project will expand the CID to a value of $300 million over the next two years.

At first, the focus of the district will be U.S. Highway 29, and like the Evermore CID's beginning, transportation crews are working now to add a median along the road.

McDowell said property owners have expressed an interest in interparcel access because of the median.

"This is a significant accomplishment," McDowell said. "Forming this kind of initiative in our current economic climate is a strong statement that Lilburn will not accept defeat and will be ahead of the curve for economic growth coming out of these challenging times. Property owners understand that a CID is an investment that makes sense."

For Norman Nash, who chaired the Lilburn Community Partnership board that helped foster the CID, the community is the motivating force, he said in a press release.

"Family is the most important thing to me," Nash said. "By encouraging this sense of family, we will increase loyalty to Lilburn and a direct result will be a stronger business community and economic growth."