By Camie Young
Senior Writer
Gwinnett Daily Post

SNELLVILLE - Officials hope a revitalization grant can bring jobs to the Evermore Community Improvement District.

The $112,000 grant from Gwinnett government to the district allows officials to prepare several site-specific redevelopment plans.

In October, the CID board approved a contract using funds from past grants to expand sewer service along U.S. Highway 78 - the highway that links Stone Mountain to Snellville where businesses have banded together to tax themselves for improvements.

“Investing in the economic vitality of our community is a basic quality of life issue and it gives me great pleasure to present this grant to the Evermore CID,” Alfie Meek, director of Gwinnett’s economic analysis division, said.

Working with professional planning firms and completing community studies, the CID’s board of directors pinpointed the top five sites that would benefit from revitalization. They include the former Cub Foods and vacant Kroger properties and adjacent parcels within the Stone Mountain Square area, the proposed Solid Rock medical development near the Yellow River Game Ranch, and the Easy Street and West Side Court properties near Highpoint Road.

According to a press release, the Stone Mountain Square properties were defined during the Park Place Activity Center Study last year, and the Easy Street and West Side Court lots were defined in the Livable Centers Initiative study completed in 2004.

To complete the site-specific plans, the CID will provide matching funds and work with The Bleakly Advisory Group, the release said. The plans will include analysis for the five target revitalization sites to attract private investment.