Spotlight On: Marci Fluellyn, Mayor & CEO, City of Lovejoy
August 2024 — Marci Fluellyn, mayor of the city of Lovejoy, spoke with Focus: about how growth is impacting city infrastructure and planning, attracting and retaining businesses in the city, and how she sees the business environment evolving in the near term. “People need to keep an eye on Lovejoy. There are so many things that are happening,” she said.
What have been some key achievements and milestones for the city during the past year?
One of the very first things that took place was the city council’s approval of a project for affordable housing. We have a 400-home project that’s going to start, hopefully, later this year; if not, then at the beginning of next year. The footprint for the homes in that development will be under 1,500 square feet. They will be craftsman-style, ranch homes that the workforce can afford to live in. A couple of the cul-de-sacs in the subdivision will be dedicated to senior citizens so that they can have a quiet, nestled part of the community, but still be able to see and hear the kids playing because that keeps them alive and vibrant. We also stipulated to the developers that they are to include a half-million-dollar playground for the children in that new development. That helps take care of the entire family, from newborns up to our seniors, which is a focus for our city.
We are also gearing up for the strongest economic development push that anyone has ever seen in the city of Lovejoy. We rolled up our sleeves years ago and did great work to increase our residential segment. We have been recognized over and over as one of the fastest-growing cities for new residential homes being built in the state of Georgia. You need those rooftops to have strong economic development. Now, we’re moving into retail, restaurants, and family entertainment. That’s our focus going forward.
How is growth impacting the city’s infrastructure and development plans?
We’re at 15,000 residents right now, and quickly approaching 17,000. We’re building homes and completing certificates of occupancy every single week. We’re pretty much doing them almost every single day. The city is growing very fast. What that means for the infrastructure is that we have to pay close attention to the quality of our roads. The more you increase traffic going through your city, the more you’re going to have damage to your roads, and you’re going to need to repair them.
We have grant writers who are applying for funds to help us cover the expense of repaving the roads, and we’re actively setting up plans to that end. We have one major road that has a considerable amount of damage. It’s going to be repaved in October. Others are on the schedule for January and February of next year. We’re lining up funding for that because it’s very expensive to pay for roads.
The next focus is our services, which we are having to increase. The mecca of where our residents gather is downtown Lovejoy and the playground. When you have 6,000 residents, a medium-size playground can take care of the children when they want to come and play at the park. Now that we’re 15,000 and growing, it’s no longer big enough. We’re increasing the size of that playground. We have improved the infrastructure in Mayor’s Park. The walking trail has been relaid. Landscaping has been done. Lighting has been placed around the walking trail to make sure it’s well-lit. Bench seats have been put in to give them resting places along the way. We’re going to transition it into a botanical garden to provide an even more picturesque quality of life.
We’re also increasing our staff numbers. When you increase in size, you need to increase your staff so that you have enough people on hand to handle all of the additional events that we do, the additional initiatives that we do out in the community, and to make sure we have the staff that can deliver the services the community requires.
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How is the city attracting and retaining businesses in the area?
To attract businesses, we’re making sure that we have a digest of all the land or property parcels that are available for development, whether it be city-owned or privately-owned. Our economic development push this year will help with business attraction. We’ve already held several private meetings with developers and investors who are interested in coming into the city to show them what we have available and to explain to them what the citizens are looking for.
Later this year, we will hold the first-ever state of the address for the city of Lovejoy, where we will roll out our plan for economic development, growth, and for the future vision of the city. That includes a major renovation of our downtown so that we can improve our walkability score. Our citizens will have even more to do in their downtown, which is something that they have been asking for, and we want to deliver on that.
How do you anticipate the business environment in Lovejoy evolving over the next few years?
People need to keep an eye on Lovejoy. There are so many things that are happening. Not only is the downtown going to be revitalized, but we’re bringing in businesses. We’re bringing in car charging stations. We’re bringing in attractions. We’re doing placemaking. They’re going to see artistic flair around Lovejoy. We’re speaking to the love and the joy. We want to be known as the city where you come to fall in love.
This is the love city. Everything is about love. So, people are going to see hearts everywhere. They’re going to see the word love everywhere. They’re going to see the word joy everywhere. That’s going to be the vision that they’re going to see downtown.
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