Lilburn Corridor Study Approved by ARC

This has been a big week for the Lilburn Community Improvement District in its efforts to transform the area.

On Tuesday, the Gwinnet County Board of Commissioners approved the addition of seven properties, expanding the CID to 165 business properties, now valued at close to $130 million.

On Friday, Lilburn CID Executive Director Gerald McDowell received word that his group’s recently concluded six-month study of Lawrenceville Highway — called the Highway 29 Boulevard of Opportunity Corridor Study — has been approved as an Atlanta Regional Commission Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) study.

The approval now enables the CID to be eligible and to compete for various LCI funding as it looks to foster improvements along Lawrenceville Highway from Rockbridge Road to Ronald Reagan Parkway.

The $120,000 corridor study, which was mostly paid for with Gwinnett County SPLOST funding, was completed last month and submitted to the ARC, and will be grandfathered in as an ARC-approved LCI Study.

“This is probably the biggest win to date for the Lilburn CID,” McDowell said via telephone Friday. “We’re in the game now.”

In the ARC’s approval of the Lilburn study, the commission’s Land Use Division Chief Dan Reuter said, “I applaud the efforts of the Lilburn CID to independently initiate and fund this study to improve the Greater Lilburn community.”

McDowell added, “This study will give the Lilburn CID and Greater Lilburn a playbook to help us navigate the creation of a boulevard of opportunity.”